Overview

• A Nature paper on August 5 reported that trace lithium in the brain diminishes as Alzheimer’s markers rise in mice; low-dose lithium orotate prevented and reversed neuronal damage.
• Analyses of postmortem brain tissue and blood from people with mild cognitive impairment found lithium to be the only metal significantly depleted compared with healthy individuals.
• Previous Danish and U.K. environmental studies found that higher lithium levels in drinking water correspond with lower dementia rates.
• Researchers emphasize that mouse-model success must be validated in human trials and warn against unsupervised lithium supplementation.
• Harvard and Rush investigators are planning controlled clinical trials and encouraging early lithium-level screening as a possible Alzheimer’s diagnostic tool.