What is Lithium?

While many people think of lithium as only a drug, it actually has a more complex story. Lithium is an element, with the symbol Li, and with an atomic number of 3, it is third on the periodic table, and is the first, lightest solid, following the gases hydrogen and helium. Lithium goes into solution easily, and in its ionic form is found throughout the ocean. In waters around the world, it is found at different concentrations, higher in such places as mineral springs, or brine, where ocean water evaporates, concentrating minerals. Lithium is not found freely in nature, being too reactive, and it therefore forms salts, or ionic compounds, such as the inorganic lithium carbonate found in nature. It is this lithium carbonate that is used as a drug for its mood stabilizing impact on those diagnosed with Bipolar Depression. 

Lithium is widely distributed throughout the world. For example, the ocean is estimated to contain 230 billion tonnes, existing, for the most part, at concentrations of 0.14 to 0.25 parts per million. The earth’s crust contains lithium at 20-70 parts per million by weight, with different rocks containing more or less. Brine areas, such as the reserves in Bolivia or Chile form an easy extraction site, as does hectorite clay in the USA. Importantly, all water contains a trace amount of lithium.

Lithium is found in all living things, in the vegetables we eat, and in all animals, including those we eat. Lithium is naturally found in all human beings, and in general we consume, more or less, about 1 milligram of lithium a day. The endogenous level of lithium in people normally ranges from 0.14-8.6 micromol/l, and it seems as though the foods we eat and water we drink greatly influences how much lithium we take in and excrete from our body. For example, we consume daily between 0.6 to 3.1 mgs of lithium a day, leading to the suggestion by some that an RDA of 1.0 mg may be reasonable ingredient and amount to add to the typical guidelines. In this respect, it is easier thinking of it as a trace element in the body. To date, the Food and Nutrition Board at the institute of Medicine has not addressed issues of lithium belonging at either a Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) or Adequate Intake (AI) list. We encourage consideration of that change in the future. 

We do not yet know all the specific mechanisms of action of lithium in the body, though we are uncovering different mechanisms of action for potential different effects (discussed here). For example, while it is used to control mood disorders, we still do not know how lithium does this. What we do know is that lithium is necessary for survival. For example, when animals were raised on a lithium deficient diet, they had higher mortality rates, higher behavioral abnormalities, and reproductive abnormalities. 

The medically approved form of lithium is lithium carbonate. For the purposes of marketing, lithium for any treatments or diagnoses in the USA,  FDA approved lithium carbonate and only for the treatment and prevention of manic episodes of Bipolar Disorder, equivalent to Manic Depressive illness. Lithia Works has nothing to do with the treatment of this diagnosis or any other diagnosis. 

There are other forms of lithium available, with the one we use being a nonprescription, non-FDA approved form, lithium orotate, a favored over the counter product sold as a supplement at many health food stores. More on the history of lithium use here, and on the history of Lithium orotate here.