The Low Down on Lithium and Alzheimer's Disease

Some readers may already be aware that lithium is a very useful treatment for certain mental illnesses. However very few of them may know that there are different types of lithium compounds available and that the prescribed type is just one of them.

The lithium salts that this article will deal with are used in very small doses and their effects have been linked with slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease, senile dementia and more importantly Alzheimer's disease.

Lithium has three important roles to play in protecting the brain. Firstly, studies have shown that it can actually increase the size of the brain (this counteracts the natural shrinkage that occurs with age) by slowing cell death and degeneration and also by promoting cell growth. Secondly it offers protection against toxins that are known to cause cell damage and nerve misfiring and thirdly helps form proteins that act as a shield further protecting the brain.

However, with Alzheimer's sufferers lithium's role becomes even more important!

It has a role in preventing the build up of amyloid proteins that form the plaques which are the signature of Alzheimer's disease. It also chelates heavy metals (particularly aluminium) so that they can be more easily removed from the body. In fact one researcher believes that lithium remains one of the most potent chelators that we have at our disposal for removing aluminium from the body.

So, with lithium available pharmaceutically, from health shops and over the Internet - which ones would I suggest you consider?

The lithium salts I recommend are far more easily absorbed by the cells of the body than those prescribed pharmaceutically and because of this they are needed in far smaller doses. These supplements are lithium orotate or lithium aspartate (usually orotate) and the dosage I suggest patients take is to start off on 5mg a day and then to build it up to no more than 20mg over several weeks.At dosages of 20mg per day there are very rarely any side effects (as this is 10-20 times lower than the pharmaceutical dose) and a lot to gain - making lithium one of my more highly recommended supplements.