Why is lithium a “miracle” nutrient? It protects nerve cells from damage, encourages them to grow and heal, lifts the mood, protects the brain from strokes and even aging. And it actually reverses the age-related brain shrinkage (or “cerebral atrophy”) that most of us will experience as we get older. I have seen the awful consequences of senile dementia, and anything that can stave off the ravages of brain aging is a miracle to me. I get even more excited when a neuron nourishing agent happens to be an essential nutrient (rather than a drug). Our bodies and brains can’t function without lithium. It’s a familiar molecule, at home in our bodies.

But let’s start back at the beginning, and I do mean the beginning: that colossal explosion known as the the “Big Bang” that gave birth to our universe. Within the first second, as the incredibly hot, rapidly expanding liquid plasma started to cool down, the elements hydrogen (atomic weight 1) and helium (atomic weight 2) emerged. A few nanoseconds later the next element, lithium (atomic weight 3), was generated.

Lithium, the first mineral, and the simplest and lightest metal, will float on water. (Back then, however, water hadn’t yet been formed, so there was no way to try that particular experiment).

Fast forward approximately 14 billion years. Human life has evolved on our planet. Lithium, it turns out, is an essential mineral, necessary for human survival. And since we can’t make lithium for ourselves, we must get it from our food and water.

Our brain cells are under more or less continuous assault from free radicals, toxins, pollutants, and other damaging substances. Lithium actually protects us from this damage. And for those nerve cells that have already been damaged, this mineral promotes regeneration. The source of the damage doesn’t seem to matter: lithium appears to protect nerve cells from just about every substance known to harm brain cells. Researchers have devised a variety of challenges to healthy brain tissue and lithium protects against them all. For example, pre-administration of lithium has been shown to protect against the adverse effects of stroke in experimental animals. (I do not condone this kind of experimentation, however. It is not necessary to abuse animals to obtain this kind of information.)

Going beyond damage control, lithium also stimulates the growth and regeneration of nerve cells. As we get older, our brains shrink--a phenomenon known as cerebral atrophy. Possibly the most remarkable effect of lithium is to reverse this shrinkage, restoring brains to their original size within weeks.

Optimizing lithium availability in large populations would be expected to translate into generally improved human behavior. So it should come as no surprise that researchers who examined the lithium content of water supplies found that the incidence of robbery, rape, homicide, suicide, violent crime, and drug use was significantly lower in counties whose water supplies contained optimum lithium levels as compared with counties whose water contained no lithium.

A wealth of health benefits

Beyond protecting the brain from wear and tear and improving its ability to regenerate, lithium also protects the brain from an array of toxins. A recent study published in The Lancet demonstrated that lithium reverses brain atrophy--i.e., it increases the amount of grey matter in older people whose brains have shrunk with age. (Most of us will begin to experience this by the time we are 50 or 60). How lithium accomplishes this reversal is not fully understood, but it’s related to lithium’s ability to increase levels of several brain chemicals that protect and stimulate the regeneration of nerve cells.

Lithium’s mood stabilizing effects are well-known. High dose lithium has been used for over 35 years in the treatment of bipolar (manic-depressive) disorder, and the metal is considered one of the most effective medications for this condition. Now researchers are finding that low dose lithium (using the natural approach, whereby lithium is utilized as an essential nutrient rather than as a drug) has also been shown to have mood stabilizing effects. It accomplishes this by enhancing nerve health, rather than poisoning or altering normal neuronal function.

An especially encouraging aspect to lithium therapy is its apparent ability to discourage the progression of several chronic neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and tauopathies.

Fibromyalgia patients appear to improve when they are given lithium.

Hyperthyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid becomes overactive, is also known as Graves disease. Mayo Clinic researchers first reported in 1972 that lithium reversed Graves disease. Since then, at least ten additional studies have substantiated those initial findings.

How does it work?

There is still much to be learned about the exact mechanisms for lithium’s neuroregenerative and neuroprotective effects, but at least one fact is clear: the effects are not drug-like, they’re natural. Since lithium is an essential nutrient, it can be used like any other vitamin or essential mineral. We do know that lithium upregulates (enhances the production of) a number of “cell survival molecules,” chemicals that enhance nerve cell health. Here’s how one team of investigators put it (translation at end):

"(The) cellular actions of lithium (include its) ability to inhibit N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, upregulate cytoprotective Bcl-2, down-regulate proapoptotic p53 and Bax, inhibit glutamate-induced mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, facilitate glutamate uptake into presynaptic nerve endings, induce the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in discrete brain areas, and enhance neurogenesis in the hippocampus. These actions require long-term treatment and could be more likely involved in the delayed phase of the neuroprotective effects." (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 13, 2003, vol. 100, no. 10, 6210-6215.)

This may seem like a bunch of medical mumbo jumbo to you, but it’s music to my ears. What it means is that lithium has a spectrum of nerve cell nourishing effects. It helps neurons heal and grow. It protects them from damage. These particular investigators had demonstrated that lithium even reverses damage after the fact, by stimulating growth and healing. Since lithium is a non-toxic nutritional medicine, I recommend that anyone who has had a stroke or other neuropathic (nerve damaging) syndrome, regardless of cause, would benefit from a three to six month trial on lithium (as an adjunct to, not a substitution for, standard therapies). A typical dose would be 10-20 mg. twice daily. This is low dose, physiologic (rather than pharmacologic) therapy, so there’d be no need to monitor blood levels.

For those of us who want to protect our brains from damage, and keep them functioning optimally, I recommend the same dose of lithium: 10 mg. twice a day.

Lithium’s beneficial effects would be potentiated by the use of these neuronutrients: Brain Power, acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC), ginkgo biloba, vitamin B-12, and phosphatidyl serine.

It’s not a drug

Don’t confuse the low dose (10-20 mg. a day) lithium I’m recommending here with the abnormally high “supraphysiologic” doses used when lithium is prescribed as a psychotropic drug. We are interested in recommending relatively small, optimum doses of an essential mineral. With pharmacologic dosing, on the other hand, near toxic levels of the substance are administered (170 to 340 mg.), and this approach has proved effective in the treatment of mood disorders such as manic-depressive illness (bipolar disorder). A crucial distinction must be made between lithium used this way as a drug, and low dose lithium (10-20 mg.) as replacement therapy. Yes, they are the same substance. The difference is in the amount.

Don’t expect the drug companies to pick up the ball and explore the multitude of possible applications for this miracle mineral. Truth be known, because lithium is not patentable, Big Pharma can’t get rich on it, so there’s no incentive to pony up the big bucks required to push it through the expensive FDA drug approval process.

What to take

Lithium can be purchased in capsule form, and is relatively inexpensive. A reasonable dose for daily maintenance would be 5-10 mg. twice a day.