I'm a science junkie, and thanks to a friend have just been researching Lithium. Li - is a term used in everything LIght (there is Li in light too - ie the first 2 letters). Lithium is one of 3 elements created by the Big Bang (yes I know it's a theory, but it's cited in the Wiki article so I'm going with it).
Anyway, you know how folks in Japan live to such old ages? It could be the lithium in their drinking water. According to a study it promoted lifespan by 36%, prevents depression, staves off mortality, is investigated as a treatment for cluster headaches, and improves overall health. It's present in all sea water (maybe that's why sea air makes us feel more alive?) ... anyway, read some of the science! It rocks! ___ Our findings indicate that low-dose Li+ exposure causes reduced mortality in C. elegans, and that these life span-extending capabilities of low-dose Li+ can be observationally translated into reduced overall mortality in humans that have been exposed to comparable amounts of Li+ in a similar long-term fashion. It should be noted, however, that the findings in humans are observational and hence cannot provide a causal link between high-level Li+ intake on the one hand, and reduced mortality on the other hand. On a theoretical basis, a life-long intervention study in humans would be required to provide causal evidence for mortality-reducing effects of low-dose lithium supplementation. Such a study, for obvious reasons, cannot be materialized. Hence, we used a typical model organism for anti-aging studies, C. elegans, to test whether low-dose Li+ levels similar to those observed in some areas of the Oita prefecture, i.e. 10 μM, may actually cause reduced mortality. Based on previously published evidence from the Lithgow laboratory, a 1000-fold higher concentration extends C. elegans life span by 36% also by reducing expression of the C. elegans ortholog of a histone demethylase named LSD-1 in mammals and T08D10.2 in C. elegans, respectively. It hence is of little surprise that the concentration employed in the current study exerts less pronounced effects on life span of C. elegans. However and most importantly, this low concentration causes reduced mortality, suggesting that the effects of a similar exposure of humans within the Oita prefecture in regard to reduced mortality are not a mere coincidence, but rather reflect unresolved molecular effects on human mortality that clearly require further investigation. Lastly and given the long-standing psychiatric experience with high-dose Li+ supplementation in humans, these findings raise the possibility that readily available low-dose Li+ supplementation at non-toxic doses may not only promote mental health and impair suicide risk [2, 7, 8] but also may reduce overall mortality in humans. Want to read the whole thing? You can, here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151375/
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