New research: Lithium extends longevity
Woof, it's the Youthspan Hound back at you with another edition of Long Youthspan.
As a longevity inclined dachshund, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to new science to help us live longer, healthier lives.
You may have gotten used to seeing me every day in your inbox. But I've decided to switch things up a bit.
From now on, I'll be bringing you the latest and greatest in longevity research once a week, giving me more time to really dig in and bring you concrete recommendations and practical tips to help you live healthier longer – possibly forever.
But let me stop hounding around. And let’s dig in with this week’s research-backed longevity tip:
Lithium for longevity
The Duracell Bunny supplements with lithium every day. Could it be this is why he keeps going and going? You be the judge…
What's the news: Therapeutic doses of lithium extend longevity in real live humans.
Why should we believe it: This news comes from a study published last month, in January 2023, and performed by scientists in Switzerland.
The study looked at 501,461 patients suffering from affective disorders and taking anti-psychotic medication. Through some fancy statistics, the scientists found that people taking lithium lived longer than those taking other anti-psychotic drugs.
Why is this a big deal? Due to the fancy statistics in the paper, it's not clear to your Youthspan Hound how big of a longevity effect we're talking about here. Maybe even though the effect of lithium was undeniable, it turned out to be tiny. With that said…
The real reason to be excited is that this news is another pebble in the mounting pile of evidence that there's something good about lithium.
What exactly is good about lithium? Animal studies support the idea that therapeutic lithium extends youthspan. But not just that.
Studies in humans show that therapeutic levels of lithium increases gray matter in the brain. Therapeutic lithium also lowers risk of dementia, again in humans. It even reduces violent and antisocial behavior.
So should you start gulping down therapeutic doses of lithium? No, for two reasons:
Therapeutic doses of lithium have their own risks, which need to be monitored.
High therapeutic doses might not be necessary to get the longevity or other general health benefits of lithium.
Trace doses of lithium might be all you need. For example, lithium is naturally present in drinking water, but concentrations vary widely in different regions. Studies have looked at these natural experiments, and have found that even trace doses of lithium — 1/100ths of a therapeutic dose — still extend longevity. On the other hand, a total absence of lithium is associated with all sorts of health and psychological problems.
So what can you do now? Consider low-level supplementation with lithium.
You might see imediate and obvious effects — more calm, less anxiety, and less desire to engage in violent, antisocial behavior towards your friends, family, and coworkers.
And then there might also be long-term, non-obvious effects, such as extra days, weeks, or maybe years of healthy life.
How much lithium should you take? There are no official daily recommendations for lithium supplementation. But a paper by the Director of the San Diego-based Biological Trace Element Research Institute recommends a dose of 1000 mcg of lithium per day.
And in case you're looking for the Long Youthspan recommendation on a brand to get your daily lithium, take a look below.
Today's offer: Life Extension Foundation's lithium ororate
Why lithium? Why ororate? If you’re asking why lithium, grrr. Read the segment above. As to why lithium orate specifically:
Lithium ororate is one of the two main forms of supplemental lithium
The other type, lithium carbonate, has unwanted side-effects.
Do you really need another supplement? Check your multivitamin. If you're already getting trace lithium, then no, you don't need supplemental lithium. But many popular multivitamin formulations have zero lithium.
Why Life Extension Foundation's lithium? Your Youthspan Hound personally takes a couple LEF supplements, and has been happy with the effects. Shinier coat, better digging stamina.
Also, Labdoor (an independent supplement testing company) analyzed other LEF supplements and gave them all an A grade (not all that common for Labdoor).
While I haven't found the same kind of analysis for for Life Extension's lithium, the overall quality of LEF products is high enough that I'm happy promoting their lithium as well.
Plus one LEF pill is 1000 mcg of lithium. That’s in line with the expert recommendation I wrote about above. In case you’re interested:
Thanks for reading, and see you next week (or tomorrow?)
As I mentioned up top, I will only be writing one Long Youthspan newsletter each week. On the other hand, I've decided to join the Twitter pack.
As you can guess, a dachshund with a Twitter account is an awkward combination. I don't really know what I am doing, but I'm giving it a try.
Every day, I'm busy sniffing out the latest news on longevity from various sources. I'll be sharing one or two of the most interesting pieces of longevity news I come across during my daily hunt for information.
If you're on Twitter, and if you want to follow me there, you can do so here.
But if you're not on Twitter, don't worry. I'll still be sending you the weekly Long Youthspan newsletter next Thursday, packed with all the latest research and practical tips for living a longer, healthier life. Until then, woof — and thanks for reading.