On 12/23/2008 03:32 PM, spboulet wrote:
> I have been in a great mood in overcast Chicagoland this winter, and I
> wanted to pass along a couple of supplement ideas that may be responsible.
>
> 1. Normalized vitamin D. With 2000 IU of vitamin D, I reached a
> 25-hydroxy level of 40 ng/mL, which I believe makes me a fairly low
> responder. I've since increased that to 5000 IU/day.

I and Kitty have not wanted to spend the extra money to get our levels
tested (things are very tight for us these days), but after being at an
intake of about 2500 IU nominal daily for a couple of years (1200 IU
daily for many years prior to that), we recently increased our nominal
dosage to about 5000 IU daily. The term "nominal" is included because
the actual amount we each take of all nutrients is based on our non-fat
body weights and their ratio to each other - in this respect our ratios
are about 3/2 for me and Kitty respectively. I am assuming that will
get us above a 60 ng/ml blood level, which my research suggests is
necessary for good health according to the latest evidence. Being in
AZ we do also get some from the sunshine, evening during the winter
months.

For comparison with different measurement systems note that 25 mcg =
1000 IU and 40 ng/mL = 100 nmol/L.

> 2. Lithium orotate. For the past two weeks I've started on 120 mg of
> lithium orotate daily, containing 5 mg elemental lithium, a
> nutritional, not pharmacological, dosage. I've noticed a subtly more
> balanced mood and more positive attitude, not that I've had much in
> the way of mood swings in the past. Our water comes from Lake
> Michigan, and contains no lithium.

I and Kitty take the standard lithium carbonate, since it is very cheap
in Canada and she has a prescription based on her tendency to bi-polar
mania (normally totally controlled and having no effect on her
functioning). She then takes less than the prescribed dosage, which
leaves some for me to take. Our dosage is 100 mg daily for each (no
modification here for non-fat weight ratios), which amounts to about 19
mg of elemental lithium daily. I also think that my mood has changed for
the better and I more easily overcome depressing adversities since I
started taking it a few years back.

> From PMID 1699579, "Using data for 27 Texas counties from 1978-1987,
> it is shown that the incidence rates of suicide, homicide, and rape
> are significantly higher in counties whose drinking water supplies
> contain little or no lithium...". PMID 18363457 is another study on
> this topic, but without an abstract. Here's another good introductory
> article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_/ai_93736454.
>
> Lithium orotate is claimed to avoid the liver toxicity issue seen
> with other forms of lithium.

But there is no evidence of any toxicity at the small dosages adequate
for promoting brain health in healthy individuals and recently it has
been shown that supplemental zinc reduces and liver toxicity.

> Any thoughts on the need for and efficacy of supplemental lithium?

There is good evidence that a small dosage is positive for brain health
and brain antiaging in general apart from any mood balancing effects, so
I think that it would benefit most people.

--Paul

["Municipal water supplies commonly contain 2 ppb of lithium, but elevated
levels of lithium in ground water are found downstream from areas having high
lithium content in rock and soil, particularly in the Southwestern states, South
Dakota, and Florida (levels up to 380 ppb have been reported in water in the
Pima Indian Reservation in Arizona)."

The above quote is from _Environmental Goitrogenesis_ by Eduardo Gaitan - I
found it doing search with: lithium level water Arizona. Preview of the book is
available via Google: http://tinyurl.com/9coo56

(We are approximately 25 miles from the geographical center of the Gila River
Indian Reservation, which is south of Phoenix and north of Casa Grande; the
closest boundary is actually just about 1 mile north from our house. This may be
the "Pima Indian Reservation" referred to but 2 other reservations within 50
miles, and in the valleys of the Gila and Salt Rivers where the Pimas have
historically been located, also have/had the name Pima associated with the
native Americans there. But without a town mentioned, the exact location
referenced in the book can not be determined by this brief phrase alone.)

Another slightly more technical source of information on lithium is a paper,
"Lithium: Occurrence, Dietary Intakes, Nutritional Essentiality" in Journal of
the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 21, No. 1 14-21 (2002) which is
available full online - http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/21/1/14#SEC1 The
author of this paper, Gerhard N Schrauzer, wrote two earlier ones that were
sources for the article, "The effects of dietary lithium upon mood and behavior
- Nutritional Influences on Illness", for which Stephen provided the link.
**Kitty]