2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
When someone mentions lithium, most people, without knowing why, have a negative reaction. Maybe they immediately think of the movie Flight over the Cuckoo's Nest or just sick people with foam at the mouth, with aggressive and unconscious movements. And, indeed, lithium in pharmacological doses has some terrible consequences. However, it is a major mineral present in many aquatic systems with a number of beneficial effects on the brain.
Scientists studied and found in the late 1800s that lithium could help stabilize mood in patients with bipolar disorder. At that time, the mineral salt was used to treat gout. Lithium was originally used as an ingredient in the soft drink 7 Up. The first research study on the mineral appeared in 1949, when the Australian psychiatrist John Cade left his mark on psychiatric history. Thousands of years ago, Greek healers treated mental disorders with mineral water - now considered rich in lithium.
Before the era of scientist John Cade, the treatment of mania was engulfed in darkness and associated with electroshock therapy or lobotomy. Suddenly, lithium was a fashionable and welcome alternative, and in fact it was the first successful pharmaceutical approach to treating mental illness. However, its use is associated with the presence of harmless side effects: lithium is toxic to the thyroid gland and kidneys (as well as to the heart in large quantities), and helps to gain weight. It can even be fatal in an overdose. But when the lithium does its job well, the result is really impressive. Depression accompanied by suicidal thoughts and mood swings are corrected within a week. And currently, lithium is one of the few drugs proven to reduce suicide.
A recent article sheds some light on the actual mechanism of action of lithium. A study of bipolar disorder concluded that there is an increase in inflammatory markers in the frontal cortex of the brain in diseased patients. There is also an increase in enzymes that regulate the expression of arachidonic acid - polyunsaturated omega 6 fatty acid. The researchers gave the rats a meager amount of lithium or food completely devoid of the mineral for 6 weeks, and another group of rodents took fixed doses. Rats taking lithium had less arachidonic acid and a higher concentration of 17-OH DHA, an anti-inflammatory metabolite of fish oil DHA. 17-OH DHA appears to suppress any inflammatory proteins in the brain.
Interestingly, lithium has proven its effectiveness as an indispensable drug (at least in slowing the progression) of another inflammatory and invariably fatal neurotoxic disease - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The benefits of the mineral are being studied in helping to treat diseases such as AIDS, dementia and Alzheimer's.
There is evidence that lithium can cure alcohol addiction and other addictions. On the other hand, the lack of sufficient intake of the mineral can lead to symptoms such as: easy mood swings and the development of manic depression. It is believed that its deficiency also occurs in people prone to suicide.
Scientists also pay attention to the connection between lithium and the absorption of folic acid and vitamin B12 by the body. They are key nutrients that are needed for optimal brain function. Low levels can lead to depression, irritability, poor cognitive function, decreased mental and physical endurance, and a variety of neurological problems. After all, they are all related to the lack of lithium again.
Most people take about 2 mg of the mineral daily through their diet. Lithium is found in many foods if the soil in which they are grown is rich in the element. Some mineral waters and seaweeds also contain this mineral.
Natural and nutritional methods for balancing lithium orotate concentrations can increase it to about 10 to 30 mg. daily, and a medical prescription under the supervision of a doctor or psychiatrist can usually reach about 1000 to 1500 mg per day.
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