Lithium is available in many mineral waters throughout the world and is highly bioavailable.
One brand sold in the U.S. would only require you to drink 2 liters a day for 1 mg of bioavailable lithium. Of course the other minerals could be problematic for some. Some German waters contain almost 2 mg/L
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Negative in mice https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acel.13479
But mice die way too much of cancer, and lithium seems to act on mechanisms independently of cancer
I think the data is fairly convincing that lithium supplementation is good for your health, cognition and lifespan. I take lithium orotate every night.
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Yep, I believe there was a case report in the literature involving negative effects from higher dose orotate supplement form causing a hospitalization somewhere if one wants to look into it. It appears to possibly be close to equivalent.
Frankly, I’m not even particularly convinced by the suggested effects of epi evidence for suicide prevention on microdosing lithium at 1-3 mg, but I’m not doubting a potential mood effect on even low doses around 5-15 mg.
My take is ~1 mg (spaced out in water from USP grade lithium carbonate IR, wished I had the benefit of ER version) is highly, highly unlikely to cause significant long-term harm if any, with a potential shaky benefit based on a poorly done trial at a slightly lower microdose on AD (with some lack of key details in the trial) that also used lithium carbonate. Not particularly convinced yet on it having enough empircial evidence to significantly increase healthspan or lifespan in humans at the dose I’m taking if it even has any effect in the first place, but the mechanistic gamble in this instance vs potential for harm seems okay in my personal situation.
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I ordered a 1mg lithium orotate supplement to add to my stack that should arrive today. @JuanDaw I have lived in one of the cities listed in your post for the last 28 years so I suspect my intake has been low.
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My post above shows cities with high crime rates per capita. The suggestion of adding lithium to city drinking water was in jest, because there is no showing that those cities’ drinking water have low lithium content. The connection is made based on the untested hypothesis of Australian psychiatrist John Cade.
This theory led to ‘nutri-criminological’ studies which revealed that in areas where the drinking water contained more lithium there were lower serious crime rates and fewer suicides. [Biol Trace Elem Res. 1990 May;25(2):105-13.]
My lithium orotate arrived yesterday, in time for my weekend dosing of kaempferol, myricetin, and lithium. I started kaempferol and myricetin the weekend past. This is for my self-experimentation of a substitute for rapamycin (or everolimus), and trametinib (a MEK inhibitor and anti-cancer), as posted below.
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I ordered it before reading your post so I didn’t decide based on that but I certainly appreciate your clarification. I do believe based on what I’ve read that both places I’ve lived during my lifetime have low groundwater lithium levels.
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Trace lithium in Texas tap water is negatively associated with all-cause mortality and premature death (2017)
As promised, I finally had my lithium levels checked. Quite a surprise, makes me wonder if the lithium orotate supplement I am currently taking actually has any lithium in it.
FWIW: I am currently taking
“Lithium Orotate 5mg, 180 Vegetarian Lithium Capsules” by “Purely Holistic”
I think I will go back to the “NCI Advanced Research Dr. Hans Nieper Lithium Orotate Tablets”
I have been taking low-dose lithium orotate for decades, so I am completely surprised by the results.
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I take 20mg daily from weyland which is sold on amazon. I should probably test my lithium levels after dosing some time.
When I took 5mg Lithium tablets I had a test result of 0.1 mmol/L. Your result is not clear as it says under 0.3 L when it probably means <0.3 mmol/L. However, that would be consistent with my result.
My result was too high for my purposes as I want a level under 0.05 mmol/L hence I reduced my intake.
That reference range is a mental health dosage range not a longevity low dose range.
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It is <0.3 mmol/L and yes the range 0.6-1.2 mmol/L is the therapeutic range for treating mental illness. Thanks for keeping me straight.
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One of the more interesting Youtube videos on lithium supplementation.
It appears that lithium might be helpful in the treatment of Parkinson’s.
How An OTC Supplement May Prevent & Slow Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s Disease | Dr Thomas Guttuso Ep 1
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FYI: Dr. Guttoso’s trial of low-dose lithium for Parkinson’s disease has just been completed. Hopefully, we’ll soon get the results!
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Does anyone know what the desired blood level would be? Certainly don’t want to aim for therapeutic unless you’re bipolar. Toxic level is not far above therapeutic.
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I don’t know what the desired lithium blood level should be, but I have been taking lithium orotate at 10 to 20 milligrams of elemental lithium for decades. Earlier this year, I had a lithium blood test and my lithium level was below the psychiatric therapeutic level.
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I would think that because your level is below therapeutic they don’t give you an exact number.
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Yes, I agree - they are used to monitoring lithium levels in Bipolar patients - not longevity practitioners.
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