Orotates are mineral salts of orotic acid used by plants and animals to make DNA and RNA. Hans Nieper, a physician and dabbler in offbeat theories of gravitation, used orotates clinically before 1980 until his death in 1998. He thought that orotate salts, being neutrally charged, pass easily through cell membranes. In effect orotate ferries the mineral atoms into cells and tissues producing higher concentrations.