Introduction to Lithium
Lithium is an alkali mineral and one of the trace elements considered essential for both animal and human reproductive health, and general health and wellness. Benefits for new health therapies using lithium orotate have been recently discovered!
Lithium is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal so reactive it sparks when it touches water! It’s found in mineral compounds and in mineral water.
Cosmologists believe that it was one of the 3 elements synthesized in the Big Bang!
Discovered as a chemical element in 1817, lithium’s first recorded modern medical use was in 1871 for the treatment of mania.
History of the Benefits
The use of lithium for therapeutic use actually goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times. People enjoyed soaking in alkali springs to help with physical and mental illness. They had not identified the element but knew that some hot springs had special powers.
Mineral springs for therapy has been popular for hundreds of years in the west. Lithia Springs in Douglas County, Georgia was so popular that people came for miles just to drink the water. The Sweet Water hotel, a luxury 500-room resort opened in 1887 was yet another destination that attracted the rich and famous for its therapeutic benefits. The name “Lithia” stems from water rich in lithium.
Studies on the Benefits of Lithium
Studies from around the world have shown the critical health benefits of lithium. One study using data from 27 Texas counties from 1978 – 1987 found that rates of suicide, homicide and rape were significantly higher in counties whose drinking water contained little or no lithium.[v]
Another study of lithium levels in tap water in 18 municipalities in Japan showed standard mortality ratios lower in places with higher lithium levels.[vi]
Yet another study conducted in Texas in 2013 confirmed the original findings in that state. Drinking water samples from 226 counties found a correlation between lithium levels and reduced suicide rates.[vii]
New Research Found on the Benefits of Lithium
Lithium is a natural mineral, needed in trace amounts. It belongs to the same family as sodium, potassium, rubidium and cesium. Sodium and potassium are major minerals involved in cellular metabolism. The other three elements affect brain function in essential but subtle ways. lithium is known to produce a happy mood and also brain growth.
In just three weeks, adults given lithium increased brain cell volume by 3%; and may be one of the most critical elements in preventing brain degeneration from Alzheimer’s, Parkinsonism, and dementia. Normal brain excitotoxins such as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), and MSG (mono sodium glutamate), may cause toxic loss of brain cells. Related, NMDA may be the reason for aspartame’s dangerous effects on the brain! Lithium inhibits this NMDA receptor overactivity.
The lithium we get from our diet prevents many neurological and psychiatric problems. Micro-dosing lithium as a nootropic with a supplement like Lithium Orotate can help make up for the shortfall in our diet and water
Lithium is naturally available from fish, processed meat, milk, dairy products, eggs, potatoes and vegetables. Your typical dietary intake of lithium can range from 2 – 600 mcg. Amounts vary depending on where the food is grown. The FDA now has an RDA of 1mg. New research has expanded the scientific evidence of the benefits of Lithium for several health issues!
The Benefits of Lithium Just Keep on Coming!
Lithium is also protective against some of the complications of antidepressant and antianxiety drugs. There is research that lithium prevents a substantial amount of brain damage from strokes. Lithium helps prevent beta amyloid secretion in the brain. which is found in Alzheimer’s patients. Studies also indicate that lithium may chelate and remove aluminum, a toxic mineral to the brain and body.
The original study using Lithium on existing Alzheimer’s patients was unsuccessful in reversing the dementia. A follow up study about ten years ago on individuals just diagnosed with Alzheimer’s but not yet critically cognitively impaired had a different outcome. It turned out to halt any progression or onset of the disease and derail the cognitive decline that would normally ensue.
Lithium orotate may also be helpful for people who have depression or anxiety but do not have bipolar disorder. It may help with symptoms such as low energy levels, difficulty concentrating, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
Lithium helps prevent mood swings, is anti-anxiety and antidepressant, promotes neurogenesis, protects from neurodegenerative disease, and is anti-aging.
New Therapy for Protecting DNA and Autoimmune Conditions!
Lithium is a mineral catalyst required to manufacture serotonin from tryptophan. B 3 and B 6 are cofactors for the effectiveness of this process. Anorexia nervosa, ADHA, aggressive behavior, alcoholism, cluster headache, and fibromyalgia are all positively affected by lithium. Lithium is also a tremendous assistant in preventing DNA viruses from replicating and can reduce the incidence of mononucleosis and herpes outbreaks.
Dr. Wright reports that lithium orotate with Vitamin C reduces the frequency of gout attacks.
Low dose, 5 to 20 mg daily, significantly helps increase levels of white blood cells and platelets in patients who have been suppressed with chemotherapy and radiation.
People suffering with hyperthyroidism, or Graves Disease, may benefit from larger dosages with results often reported within 10 to 14 days. Adding flax seed oil and vitamin E is suggested to prevent some of the complications of high dosage therapies.
Low dose has little to no chance of any side effects in healthy people. Those with existing kidney disease should avoid Lithium until consulting with their doctor.
The real breakthrough of lithium supplementation was discovered through the use of an all natural, organic compound known as Lithium Orotate (LO). (Lithium and Orotic Acid were formulated together by Dr. Hans Nieper, an acknowledged German medical doctor and genius.)
LO has Been Available and Sold in the U.S. for Over 30 years
Supplementation does not require blood tests to establish a “therapeutic” level as the prescription forms do nor is it toxic to the kidneys as the prescription forms are. The carbonate transporter is very inefficient with as little as 20 percent absorption. Typical prescription dose using carbonate is often over 1000 mg!
Orotic acid (orotate) is the master mineral transporter, delivering nearly 100% of the mineral beyond the cell membrane into the cell!
Lithium has been proven in animal studies to be an ‘essential trace mineral’. When lithium was removed from the diet of farm animals, they developed numerous chronic degenerative diseases such as atrophy of the spleen, development of cysts and tumors, severely depressed immune systems, inability to conceive offspring and much lower survival rate.
LO is preferred because the orotate ion crosses the blood-brain barrier more easily than the carbonate ion. Subsequently, LO can be used in much lower doses (5 mg) with remarkable results and without side effects.
Dosages for Various Uses and Nootropic Benefits of LO
As a nootropic, micro-dosing lithium provides some amazing anti-aging benefits. Recent research shows that low-dose LO may also help slow the progression of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
Low-dose LO also helps neurogenesis and memory. And is a mood stabilizer.
LO helps:
- Balance mood. LO calms mania (extreme highs and lows) by decreasing sensitivity of the post-synaptic norepinephrine receptor.[ii] And increases uptake of norepinephrine into synaptosomes. Preventing the release of this neurotransmitter. And lithium enhances the transport of Vitamin B12 and folate into brain cells.[iii] Affecting mood and aggression.
- Growth Factors. LO upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 (NT3) and their receptors. And lithium stimulates the proliferation of stem cells in the brain. All boosting neurogenesis and assisting in repair from all types of brain injury.[iv]
- Neuroprotection. LO increases brain gray matter, increases DNA replication for neurogenesis, prevents apoptosis, increases N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), inhibits beta-amyloid secretion and protects against damage once it’s formed, chelates aluminum, and protects against glutamate toxicity.
Benefits of LO for the brain
LiO helps brain health and function in several ways. But two in particular stand out.
- LO stabilizes mood. Recent research has discovered that lithium’s mood stabilization effects may be due to its ability to boost the production of new brain cells (neurogenesis).
LO inhibits the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β). This inhibition upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) which stimulates neural stem cells to produce new neurons in the hippocampus.[x]
When neural stem cells produce new neurons in the hippocampus, mood and memory work as designed. But a breakdown in neurogenesis results in mood disorders.
LO has long been known to control mania and stabilize mood in bipolar patients. But it was not generally thought of as an antidepressant. Researchers in Tel Aviv provided the first evidence that inhibiting GSK-3β exerted a rapid antidepressant effect in mice.[xi]
Another team at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Pennsylvania showed that feeding mice chow laced with low-dose LO for 15 days produced a dose-dependent antidepressant effect.[xii]
Benefits of Lithium for Alzheimer’s and Brain Trauma
LO induced gene transcription in the hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus. All areas implicated in depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia.
- LO protects your brain. Your brain cells are at constant risk of damage from exposure to toxins you encounter every day from food, air, water and your environment. And the excitotoxins produced by ordinary brain cell metabolism.
Glutamate plays a major role in the synaptic plasticity needed for learning and memory.[xiii] But over-activity of glutamate on its NMDA receptors causes neuron death and is implicated in Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease. Lithium inhibits this overactivity.[xiv]
LO also increases the production of a neuroprotective protein called bcl-2.[xv] Researchers maintain that LO is the only “medication” that has been demonstrated to significantly increase bcl-2 in several brain areas.
LO has also recently been evaluated in preventing and treating traumatic brain injury. In a study conducted in 2014, Dr. Peter Leeds stated that lithium had “demonstrated robust beneficial effects in experimental models of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). These include decreases in TBI-induced brain lesion, suppression of neuroinflammation, protection against blood-brain barrier disruption, normalization of behavioral deficits, and improvement of learning and memory, among others.”[xvi]
What Happens if You Don’t Get Enough Lithium?
In 1985, the United States EPA estimated that dietary intake of lithium from food in the USA varied from 0.6 to 3.1 mg per day.[xvii] For comparison, people who live in the Andes in Northern Argentina consume 2 to 30 mg per day, with 2 – 3 mg just from drinking water.[xviii]
As your dietary sodium and caffeine increases, so does lithium excretion in urine which increases your requirement for this essential trace mineral.
Your exposure to stress and toxins from things like mercury, aspartame, MSG, Bisphenol A (BPA) and other excitotoxins also raise cortisol and other stress hormones. Increasing your need for more water-soluble nutrients like B-vitamins, magnesium, zinc and lithium.
Low lithium levels are associated with …
↑ Depression and anxiety increase
↓ Memory and learning ability decline
↑ Insomnia increases
↑ Sensitivity to stress and chronic pain increase
↓ Natural healing processes decline
Adequate daily intake of lithium could help prevent many mental and neurological diseases due to this trace minerals effects on nervous system metabolism. And it’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
LO Improves Memory
A study at McMaster University in Canada set out to determine the effects on hippocampus volume in 14 bipolar patients who received lithium therapy.
The researchers examined the effects of LO on hippocampal volumes and memory performance and recall over 2 – 4 years. The patients had not received any type of medication prior to using lithium.
The study found increases in hippocampus volume over time. And evidence of improvement of verbal memory performance over the 4-year measurement period.
The researchers concluded that the results of the study were consistent with the literature stating the neuroprotective effects of LO. And that long-term treatment of lithium is associated with preservation of memory and recall due to increased hippocampus size
LO Increases Mood in Recovering Addicts
24 adults recovering from heroin or methamphetamine addiction participated in a study in San Diego. Group A received 400 mcg per day LO mcg taken orally for 4 weeks. The placebo Group B naturally took a non-active placebo.
Subjects completed a mood test questionnaire containing questions about their ability to think, work, mood and emotions. For the lithium group, mood test scores increased steadily and significantly during the 4 week period.
The LO group also reported significantly increased levels of happiness, friendliness and energy. Group B showed no improvement during the same period.
The researchers concluded that low-dose LO provided a mood-improving and stabilizing effect.[xxii]
LO in the Treatment of Alcoholism
In this study, 42 alcoholic patients were treated with Lithium Orotate during alcohol rehabilitation in a private clinical setting for six months. The data was collected from clinical practice records for the 10 years following the initial study.
The patients received 150 mg of LO daily for six months along with calcium orotate, magnesium orotate, bromelain and essential phospholipids.
Ten of the patients had no relapse from 3 – 10 years. 13 patients stayed sober from 1 – 3 years. The remaining patients relapsed between 6 – 12 months.
The researchers concluded that Lithium Orotate therapy was safe in treating addiction with minor adverse side effects.[xxiii]
Even More Benefits of LO!
The clinical research and studies on the neuroprotective benefits of lithium are so overwhelming, some scientists are beginning to ask “why isn’t everyone using LO”?
Here’s a summary of how micro-dosing LO can benefit your brain.
- Inhibits apoptosis –LO inhibits GSK-3 which has been linked to apoptotic cell death
- NMDA-receptors – LO reduces glutamate induced toxicity mediated by NMDA-receptors which helps in mood disorders, Alzheimer’s, and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
- Neuroprotection – blocks the development of beta-amyloid tangles and plaque
- Neurogenesis –LO promotes the BDNF needed for synaptic plasticity in learning and memory. LO also boosts nerve growth factor and glial-derived neurotrophic factor affecting learning, memory, mood and overall brain health[xix]
- Neuronal stem cells – LO stimulates the stem cells needed to produce new neurons (neurogenesis)
- Stabilizes mood – LO is known for providing a calming effect in healthy people as well as those dealing with depression, bipolar disorder, and mania
- Suicide prevention – adequate levels of LO has been shown to reduce suicide risk in multiple studies worldwide
- Depression – LO helps with treatment-resistant depression. In fact, lithium has been shown to improve the effectiveness of antidepressant medications
- N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) – LO increases NAA which has been associated with higher IQ scores[xx] (i.e. lithium will make you smarter!)
The benefits of LO supplementation go far beyond just optimizing cognitive health. Lithium also helps decrease insulin resistance, helps in treatment of alcoholism and other addictions, supports bone health, balances your circadian rhythm and more.
How do Lithium Users Respond?
Many report you’ll feel the results taking a low dose of lithium quickly. For some, the full effect can take anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks. Micro-dosing 5 – 10 mg of LO daily results in consistent results within a month or two for others.
Many neuro-hackers with depression and anger issues notice results quickly. Within the first couple of days you should feel more calm, relaxed, and experience less stress.
For some, LO means feeling excited about life for the first time in a long time. Anxiety and social anxiety are no longer a problem. Life is more fun and enjoyable.
Some say LO works better than any prescription that they’ve ever tried to treat severe depression. It provides a nice, smooth mood balance without all the toxicity associated with mega-doses of lithium carbonate.
If you’re dealing with PTSD or mild insomnia, you may want to try Lithium Orotate. Focus could improve, racing thoughts diminish and motivation levels could increase. You’ll have more coping ability.
Lithium Orotate Side Effects
Do not confuse LO with lithium carbonate. The carbonate version of lithium is only available by prescription and comes with a host of side effects.
LO at low doses is non-toxic and lab tests are not required to monitor your lithium levels because it does not show up in blood samples.
LO should not be used if you are dealing with significant renal or cardiovascular disease, severe dehydration or sodium depletion, or if you’re taking diuretics or ACE inhibitors.
Do not use LO if you are pregnant or breast-feeding.
You should check with your doctor if you are on any medication before using LO.
Where to Buy Lithium Orotate
Mother Nature has already put the antipsychotic “drug” lithium in drinking water. And you get some lithium from food depending on where it’s grown.
Supplemental Lithium Orotate typically comes in 120 or 130 mg capsules or tablets containing 5 mg of elemental lithium. I recommend and use Lithium Orotate by Advanced Research which was formulated by Dr. Hans Nieper.
Reference Sources
E. Sartori, M.D., conducted a Lithium Orotate study titled: “Lithium orotate in the treatment of alcoholism and related conditions.” His study included approximately 45 volunteers suffering from alcoholism. The outcome was statistically significant with only a small portion relapsing to drinking within the year. The majority either did not drink for a few years to not at all after the ten-year study concluded.
Dietrich K. Klinghardt, M.D, Ph.D., author of “Lyme disease: A Look Beyond Antibiotics”: used Lithium-orotate in low doses (15 mg/day) to protect CNS structures from neurotoxin damage”
Dr. R Stone, M.D., author of “Trace Mineral Salt Lithium Orotate to Treat Many Diseases of the Brain” “Quantum brain uses LO for the treatment of kleptomania, schizophrenia, migraine, alcoholism, stress-induced memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease.”
