Lithium - good for the brain?

News media recently heralded a series of publications in Nature describing evidence that lithium might be a breakthrough in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

Lithium? Yes, that lithium – the silver-white metal that is used in batteries and which burns easily.

Lithium has been used in medicine for over 100 years. Lithium carbonate is currently widely used to stabilize the mood swings of bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness).

There have been tantalizing clues for many decades about a possible role for lithium in preventing or treating dementia. A “meta-analysis,” which combines the findings from multiple trials, found that lithium benefited cognitive function, though each trial was small and none individually reached statistical significance.

A study from Denmark found that higher levels of lithium in the local drinking water were associated with lower rates of Alzheimer’s disease. Another study found that among bipolar patients, those given higher dose and longer duration lithium treatment had less dementia, which was not seen in those given other medications.

The new studies found evidence from human brain samples that lithium is involved in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, that lithium-deficient mice were much more likely to develop an Alzheimer’s-like illness and that feeding lithium orotate to the mice reversed their dementia.

Should we all take lithium? Probably not quite yet. Mice are not humans, and there is no guarantee that what works in mice will work in us.

When used for bipolar disorder, lithium has a very narrow range in which it is effective but not toxic. Toxic effects of lithium are many, including underactive thyroid, inability of the kidneys to retain water, tremors, nausea, rash and heart rhythm disorders. Prescribing doctors must regularly check blood levels.

What we can do now is increase our intake of natural food sources of lithium: fruits, leafy greens, potatoes and other root vegetables and cereals. The lithium content depends on the lithium in the soil, so it can vary a lot.

Some mineral waters are very rich in lithium. These would include Vidago from Portugal and Heilwasser from Germany. Unfortunately, it is rare to see lithium content on a label (though this may now change!).


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