Lithium Supplementation

#55

It would not be surprising if the ideal Li supplementation level varied from person to person. After all you are likely to get a background quantity from the environment you live in (water) and food that you eat.

I have stuck on 2mg for some time now. I do understand the issue with higher doses which is inhibiting citrate transport. I think 1mg may be just too little to have a material effect.

However, it is good to hear other people’s experiences.

If we could have some actual lithium serum measurements that would be even better as we could compare more results as to supplementation and serum levels.

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#56

After taking lithium for decades the result is that I seldom have any anger issues. Things that used to trigger me and make me angry no longer do. I rarely feel stressed and all in all, I feel mellow as an old man. This is something I aspired to as a boy because I didn’t want to become an old curmudgeon like some who lived in my neighborhood. That lithium supplementation might have life extension benefits is a bonus.

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#57

@DeStrider I was excited to try this…and then I discovered I was already taking 5mg (I thought 1mg). Oh well.

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#58

Is that 5mg/day….5mg/week…?

#59

What’s the consensus here? Is 1mg too low to see any benefit?

#60

I don’t think there is enough research on this topic to be able to provide guidance towards a consensus. Some good research on this topic here: A primer on Lithium, Lithium + Rapamycin, etc. potentially more stable and safer pharmacokinetics

It seems to me that somewhere between 1mg and 5mg is fine.

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#61

We need more results from what supplementation results in what serum levels.

#62

I now take 5 mg of lithium orotate daily. I believe there are benefits at 1 mg, but I feel that at 5 mg the benefits are more pronounced.

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#63

Lithium and Disease Modification: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1568163724000497

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With @adssx as interest area

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#64

Now the question is: What is the optimal dosing schedule?

I do believe that 5 mg daily is better than 1 mg. 60 mg a day is the highest that Dr. Attia has gone with but he recommends only trying that under intense supervision by your doctor.

Thoughts?

#65

I think the issue of dosing should be separated from the issue as to what the target serum concentration is. I tend to think the target serum concentration should be just below 50 microMolar.

Speaking personally having tested at a steady state of 1, 2 and 5mg per day I think 2mg is best for me.

60mg a day starts going into the mental health dosage range. (although that can be as much as over a gram a day)

I would personally worry about inhibiting citrate transporters at that level.

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#66

Thanks a lot. I’m taking 2 mg/day (increased from 1 mg/day after I started dapagliflozin). I see a positive impact on mood.

@Neo: do you have access to the full paper? Do they mention the optimal dose?

Thomas Guttuso has just started a new trial of lithium in PD: Repurposing Lithium for Parkinson’s Disease

The trial’s description suggests there might be a highly individualized U-shape dose response:

In observational studies, small daily doses of lithium have been associated with a 77% reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD). In addition, lithium therapy has been effective in preventing neuronal death and behavioral symptoms in several PD animal models. Recently, our group has shown 24-weeks of low-dose lithium aspartate therapy 45mg/day in PD to engage blood-based and the MRI disease progression biomarker, free water, to a greater extent than 15mg/day or 150mg/day of lithium carbonate. However, these blood-based and MRI biomarker findings stem from only four and two PD patients, respectively, who received lithium aspartate 45mg/day. In addition, two other PD patients receiving this dosage withdrew from the study due to side effects of sedation and dizziness. Subsequently, one of these patients who withdrew resumed lithium aspartate at 30mg/day and reported no side effects. Although these findings suggest that this dosage of lithium aspartate has positive effects on PD biomarkers, data from a larger number of PD patients will be required to justify conducting a larger, randomized controlled trial (RCT). The proposed study will enroll 15 additional PD patients over five months who will receive lithium aspartate 30-45mg/day for 24 weeks ensuring that the study will be completed within 12 months. The dosage will be slowly titrated in each patient up to the maximum tolerated dosage in this range. Blood-based biomarkers and MRIs will be assessed at baseline and 24 weeks. It is anticipated that a similar magnitude of biomarker engagement will be observed among these additional 15 patients as was seen in the handful from the pilot study. Such findings would provide strong preliminary evidence to support conducting a larger RCT including both clinical and biomarker outcomes. Positive results from such a RCT would support lithium aspartate as a disease-modifying therapy for PD.

Interesting study from last year: Lithium treatment extends human lifespan: findings from the UK Biobank 2023

“Subsequent multivariate survival analyses reveal lithium to be the strongest factor in regards to increased survival effects (hazard ratio = 0.274 [0.119–0.634 CI 95%, p = 0.0023]), corresponding to 3.641 times lower (95% CI 1.577–8.407) chances of dying at a given age for lithium users compared to users of other anti-psychotic drugs. While these results may further support the use of lithium as a geroprotective supplement, it should be noted that doses applied within the UK Biobank/NHS setting require close supervision by qualified medical professionals.”

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They specifically looked at “lithium, in the therapeutic formulation of lithium carbonate (including brand name equivalent compounds Priadel™, Camcolit™, and Liskorum™)”. In the UK, the recommended doses for those are vary from 300–900 mg daily (Prophylaxis) to 0.4–1.5 g daily (treatment) depending on the brand.

If the above is true, then lithium would be the only effective antidepressant that is also neuroprotective and that increases lifespan in humans :thinking: . Has lithium ever been considered for the ITP?

There’s also this ongoing trial about to finish: Lithium As a Treatment to Prevent Impairment of Cognition in Elders (LATTICE)

The chosen dosage is interesting:

Lithium carbonate will be initiated at 150 mg per day and increased based on blood levels until a steady blood level between 0.6 and 0.8 meq/L is achieved. Participants will continue at the dose achieved for 2 years with quarterly monitoring.

Can’t wait to have the results!

Also: for those in the UK, which lithium supplements do you use? The usual good quality brands don’t offer it so I suspect it might be regulated. I, therefore, only buy it in France (where lithium supplements are only sold in pharmacies and in liquid form).

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#67

I am in the UK. I use the “Life Extension” brand which is 1mg (I take two capsules). The higher dosage may be regulated, but I have never looked for it.

Amazon offer Li Aspartate from two sources, but at 5mg.

#68

I can’t find it on their UK website: https://lifeextensionuk.co.uk/

Nor on the Europe website: https://www.lifeextensioneurope.co.uk/

Where do you buy it from?

Yes, Amazon offers Solaray, Nutrality, and “Vita Pharma” but I don’t know these brands enough to trust them fully (vs some regulated French products sold in pharmacies or some well-known brands like Solgar or Life Extension): are they good?

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#69

I too am taking 1 mg of Lithium because it’s in Novos, but I feel like 1 mg is such an artificial number, I feel like the dosage is wrong, why would it be 1 mg and not 2.3 mg. More research needed.

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#70

I think they may be having stocking problems. Most recently I bought it via

#71

Thanks. I guess Fruugo is importing the US version and selling it back. When I asked Life Extension why they didn’t offer lithium in Europe they answered:

We apologize as certain items and ingredients are restricted in certain countries. To best address your question, we would have to suggest contacting our distributor. Life Extension Europe B.V.

[Update: just emailed Life Extension Europe and they immediately answered: “Lithium is prohibited in EU as dietary supplement”. Regarding the UK after Brexit they added: “We think exactly the same but we are only EU company”]

#72

Also got an almost immediate answer from https://lifeextensionuk.co.uk:

Thank you for your interest in this product, as we do not currently stock this item, I have added this to our potential stock list for our compliance team to investigate for the UK & EU.
This process usually takes around 3 weeks, and I will let you know as soon I hear from them.

Feel free to email them as well @John_Hemming to show them there’s a strong demand in the UK :joy: => contact@bigvits.co.uk

[Update, regarding the difference between the various websites they said: “There is Life Extension USA (https://lifeextension.com) and we are https://lifeextensionuk.co.uk/, the UK distributor for them. I have not had any contact with Life Extension Europe, but I expect they are the European distributor.”]

#73

Levels will be a difficult thing to follow in the current assays done routinely in the lab. The one issue is to avoid toxicity, which generally occurs above what is a tight therapeutic window.
The standard adult dosing is in the range of 600-1800 mg of lithium carbonate, but targeted to levels of 0.6-1.2 mEq/L. This formulation gives 8 mEq lithium ion per 300 mg tablet.
What is being proposed here, on dosing is unlikely to even register on the lower limits of reporting levels, which are generally 0.3 mEq/L - I think it would be inconceivable to even see a 0.1 mEq/L at the 5 mg amount as it is a tiny dose.

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#74

When I tested (three times, each after chronicly dosing at a given level for some weeks)
a) The threshold was 50 μEq/L
b) chronic dosing at 5mg/d resulted in 100 μEq/L (the precision of the testing was 50 μEq/L)
c) chronic 1mg and 2mg were both below 50 μEq/L

Because my target was to get something approximating, but ideally below 50 μEq/L I settled on 2mg/d