Halt Cognitive Decline with Lithium

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HALT

DECLINE SAFE BUT MISUNDERSTOOD

Jonathan V. Wright MD

GREEN MEDICINE NEWSLETTER

Halt Cognitive Decline with Micro-Doses of this Safe But Misunderstood Mineral By Dr. Jonathan V. Wright M.D. N.D. (Hon.)

Nutritional (Low-Dose) Lithium • • • •

A well-documented, information-packed, readable book Low-dose lithium causes new brain cell growth, prevents Alzheimer’s Dozens of other uses for low-dose lithium Case report: low-dose lithium safety

Late 2015, I was honored by James Greenblatt, MD, an assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, and Kayla Grossman, RN, an educator and yoga practitioner, to be asked to write a foreword for their book Nutritional Lithium: A Cinderella Story, subtitled The Untold Tale of the Mineral that Transforms Lives and Heals the Brain. They’ve done an exceptionally good job of documenting all of the capabilities of low-dose lithium described in their book. They don’t “over claim,” being very careful to point out when the supporting research cited is “promising but incomplete.” The extensive footnote documentation contained in Nutritional Lithium is always important when introducing what for many of us is a “new” topic. Even with all the footnotes, they’ve made sure the book is very readable, explaining the science well for non-scientists. The effects of low-dose lithium on our brains, as described in Nutritional Lithium, are numerous. Lithium stimulates the growth of brand new brain cells in adults! Lithium helps increase the numbers and improves the function of mitochondria (the tiny “energy engines” that fuel every cell) in brain cells as well as elsewhere in our bodies. Lithium protects existing brain cells in many ways. It helps balance neurotransmitters, decreases brain inflammation, helps transport B12 and folate into cells (including brain cells), protects against free radicals, inhibits a brain-damaging enzyme (for the technically inclined, the enzyme is called GSK-3. GSK-3 promotes cancer—including prostate cancer—in many places in our bodies), supports the removal of excess tau protein and betaamyloid (major factors in Alzheimer’s), and promotes growth of existing nerve cells as well as old ones. Working in the ways just described (and likely others yet to be discovered), lowdose lithium can help control Parkinson’s disease symptoms, depression, as well as bipolar disease—all at those same low-doses. Studies, which were first done 2

in Texas and were repeated around the world, demonstrated that even the small amounts of lithium naturally found in drinking water (still very low-doses) were associated with significantly lower suicide rates. (We hope physicians at the Veteran’s Administration read this book!) Also described is research done in prisons and elsewhere showing that lithium can decrease—sometimes dramatically—anger, aggression, and irritability, as well as improving impulse control. And that’s not all! Lithium can reduce alcohol consumption and “alcoholic behavior.” Lithium helps significantly reduce alcoholic relapses. It’s been shown to reduce addictive gambling behavior, and to help against other addictions. Like zinc, lithium also helps anorexia nervosa; it may not be a coincidence that both minerals have been proven to raise levels of an important brain hormone (for the technically inclined, it’s BDNF). Lithium can lessen binge eating as well as symptoms of ADHD. Going beyond the brain, Nutritional Lithium also gives us information about the use of lithium for fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, glaucoma, and cluster headaches. And even though one of the major points of this book is that lithium is effective at low, non-prescription quantities found in natural food stores, there’s a discussion of its safety. Nutritional Lithium also contains good discussions of an often neglected aspect of effective psychiatric practice, nutrition! Dr. Greenblatt writes, “For psychiatrists to treat mental illness as exclusively psychological disorders fails to account for the brain’s physiological response to a shortage of essential nutrients. This response occurs regardless of culture, psychological traits, or family pressures. The malnourished brain must be restored with the nutrients it lacks.” For optimal mental health, psychology and biochemistry—which depends on nutrition—must be combined. As Nutritional Lithium makes obvious, at present lithium is the #1 missing brain nutrient! A Low-Dose Lithium Case History Nutritional Lithium ends with eight case histories, all concerning the mental health effects of low-dose lithium. I’ll end this article with an accurate-as-possible recollection of another low-dose lithium case history from nearly forty years ago. Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, a twenty-one-year-old woman came to see me at Tahoma Clinic. She’d been in a few times previously as a teenager for relatively minor health problems; her parents had been in several times about issues that mostly traced back to the alcoholism they’d both suffered from since 3

they were young (except when her mother was pregnant with her, she had been told). She told me she wasn’t ill, but wanted to know if it would be all right for her to take the same amount of lithium her parents were each taking, once daily. However, she had told me at a prior visit that she had “never swallowed as much as one drop of alcohol in my whole lifetime,” motivated by what she’d seen it do to her parents themselves and to their marriage. At that visit she’d also told me that her parents had been doing much better— although not perfectly—since starting on daily lithium. Her father wasn’t losing his temper as much, not yelling nearly as much, and was definitely less irritable. Her mother was even happy some of the time now, not depressed and weepy all the time as she’d been before. And no, they hadn’t stopped drinking alcohol, but the amount and frequency had both diminished significantly. So why did she want to take lithium herself? Had she started drinking alcohol since her last visit? No, she quietly assured me, she hadn’t, and never would. So, why? Before answering, she sat upright in her chair, stared at me, and then asked, “Don’t I have the same genetics as my parents?” She was of course correct, couldn’t argue with that! She continued to say that she’d observed her parents feeling better and getting along better since shortly after starting the lithium, and although her own behavior wasn’t—and never would be, she repeated—influenced by personal alcohol use, she thought she might feel better too if she took the same amount of lithium they did every day. Her parents had advised her to check with me, and so here she was. We reviewed lithium safety first. Even though adverse effects were very unlikely if she used the same quantities her parents were using, why not do something that might significantly lower if not eliminate any chance of lithium causing her problems? She agreed that prevention was probably better than cure, and asked what that might be. Dr. David Horrobin had taught us at a seminar that essential fatty acids would eliminate or reduce lithium toxicity.1 Although Dr. Horrobin and his colleague Dr. Lieb had used safflower oil in a preliminary study, after studying essential fatty acids it appeared to me that flaxseed oil would be a better choice. At different times in the years after Dr. Horrobin’s seminar, two severely bipolar individuals were referred to me by a psychiatrist who’d helped them keep their severe bipolar symptoms under control for several years with high-dose lithium.

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Then each had signs and symptoms of lithium toxicity appear, including tremor, nausea, and rising blood pressure. Excess protein was found in their urine. But even a small reduction in lithium dose caused their bipolar symptoms to flare, so each wanted to stay with the higher doses of lithium. The psychiatrist referred them to me. Each was advised to take flaxseed oil, one tablespoonful thrice daily (along with vitamin E 400 IU twice daily), and for both individuals the lithium toxicity slowly went away in three to four weeks. For her, large quantities of flaxseed oil itself were very likely not needed, and there was an alternative means of getting the same oil that many had told me was even tasty, ground flaxseed itself, two level tablespoonfuls daily. She agreed it would be easy to stir that into the oatmeal she liked to eat for breakfast In subsequent years—it wasn’t known at that time—researchers have found that ground flaxseed also reduces risk of breast cancer, improves progesterone-toestrogen ratios (which often lessens PMS), increases the percentage of ovulatory cycles, and even raises a woman’s testosterone levels slightly. But enough about ground flaxseed; back to lithium. She didn’t return for nearly a year. There was definitely a change in her personality; she seemed more confident, and didn’t wait to be asked about what she had in mind for the visit. When we were done with that concern, she said she had something to tell me about herself that she hadn’t mentioned at any prior visit. Here is what she told me: “I never had any close friends when I was growing up. I thought it was because of my parents; before they started lithium, I didn’t want to be around them much either. But even after that, still no close friends. There were very few invitations to parties or to join clubs, and when all the other girls were old enough to have boyfriends, I didn’t until I was nineteen, and that lasted less than a month. But since I started the lithium and (she smiled) ground flaxseed, everyone who knew me in high school says I’m not the same person. A few of the more outspoken ones asked me if I’d been having psychological counseling. I tell them no, I just made a decision about my life and let’s leave it at that. I’ve been invited to more parties in the last few months than in my entire time in high school. I’ve decided to go to college, and I’ve gotten a job to earn money for it. I’ve met lots of people at the job, and one of them has been my boyfriend for six and a half months now! Now I understand what the other girls were talking about in the locker room in high school gym. My parents are amazed at the change that’s happened to me, so I tell them it’s all their fault for taking the lithium you suggested. The other reason I’m here is to thank you for doing that.” 5

Which was very kind of her. Why We All Should Consider Low-Dose Lithium Even if you don’t have any of the multitude of mental and non-mental health problems listed in Nutritional Lithium, there’s one very important reason we all should consider a low-dose lithium supplement—unless you live in one of the few areas where the water supply already contains lithium. This very important reason is Alzheimer’s disease prevention. The overwhelming weight of research tells us that low-dose lithium will cut Alzheimer’s risk dramatically. If we add curcumin, or turmeric as a source of curcumin, and testosterone for men, estrogen for women (both as part of overall bioidentical hormone replacement), the risk of Alzheimer’s disease risk will be very, very small. (An organic-as-possible diet, exercise, and individualized supplementation are important for the best of health too, but most everyone reading Green Medicine knows that.) Another Note about Low-Dose Lithium Safety The “low-doses” of lithium discussed in Nutritional Lithium are five to ten milligrams daily. Prescription doses of lithium carbonate are 300 milligrams (55 milligrams of which are lithium, the rest carbonate), and instructions are usually one capsule (very occasionally two capsules) three times daily. Even at the usual dose, that’s 165 milligrams of lithium itself daily—much, much more than is ever possible to consume from naturally occurring water sources. Adverse effects from these “un-Natural” daily quantities are very possible, and can be found on-line by entering “lithium adverse effects” into any search engine. So far, no adverse effects have been reported from low-dose lithium, but I have seen early signs of kidney and parathyroid problems in a very, very few individuals who exceeded the quantities recommended by Dr. Greenblatt (and me). If low-doses don’t work for you and you want to explore higher amounts, work with a physician skilled and knowledgeable in natural medicine who knows how to work with lithium. Also, remember Dr. Horrobin’s observations about preventing lithium adverse effect mentioned in the case history above. Why You Should Consider Buying This Book To be practical, it’s because the information packed into Nutritional Lithium isn’t available all in one place anywhere else, and you can (if you wish) use this information safely for yourself and your family with low-dose lithium, which is found in most natural food stores. (Just in case they don’t have it, which is

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increasingly unlikely, low-dose lithium is also available at compounding pharmacies, the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary, and online sources.) If you’re a healthcare professional, definitely buy this book. It will help you help your patients even more than you’re doing now! Endnotes 1 Lieb, J. and Horrobin, D. F. (1981). “Treatment of lithium-induced tremor and familial essential tremor with essential fatty acids.” Progress In Lipid Research 20:535-7.

Micro-dose Lithium Stops Cognitive Decline Do you have a relative whose mental ability is declining? Are you worried this may be happening to you? It’s very possible to stop the progression of mental decline with such small doses of lithium that it’s safe to “do-it-yourself” at home! In Green Medicine Newsletter, the research-proven ability of lithium to induce our brains to make new brain cells at any age has been reviewed and mentioned. There are so many other things lithium can do to promote mental health— including protecting brain cells in experimental animals against any and all neurotoxins. For now, let’s review just one research publication about the mental health effects of a truly tiny dose of lithium. What’s a truly tiny dose? We all know how small a dose one milligram is. Another way of stating one milligram is 1000 micrograms; the dose of lithium used in this research which stopped cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease was less than one-third of that, 300 micrograms. If you show this article to your physician skilled and knowledgeable in natural medicine (and please do!) it’s very, very likely he or she will agree that 300 micrograms of lithium daily is very, very unlikely to be harmful. Here’s what the researchers reported1 about micro-dose lithium stopping cognitive decline: “…our group evaluated the effect of a micro-dose of 300 micrograms, administered once daily on Alzheimer’s Disease patients for 15 months. In the evaluation phase, the treated group showed no decreased performance in the mini-mental state examination test, in opposition to the lower scores observed for the control group during the treatment, with significant differences starting three months after the beginning of the treatment, and increasing progressively. This data suggests the efficacy of a micro-dose lithium

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treatment in preventing cognitive loss, reinforcing its therapeutic potential to treat AD using very low-doses.” A brief translation from “scientese”: At three months after starting treatment, cognitive decline had stopped—and stayed stopped for the rest of the fifteenmonth experiment—in the micro-dose lithium group, but continued to get steadily worse in the placebo group. Just one problem with giving yourself and/or a relative micro-dose lithium: at present, it’s for sale over-the-counter in capsules containing 5, 10, and 20 milligrams; 300 microgram doses are nowhere to be found! I’ve personally been using 20 milligrams daily (the maximum I recommend to anyone) since the first report of lithium causing new brain cell formation was published in The Lancet in the year 2000, and so far only los federales and various “authorities” who obviously know much more about this than me (that’s why they’re “authorities”, right?) think I’m crazy. One other point about lithium safety: Dr. David Horrobin taught us all decades ago that lithium toxicity (which can happen with the high doses of lithium used to treat “bi-polar” disease) can be prevented and treated with essential fatty acids. At Tahoma Clinic, we’ve used this information to reverse obvious lithium toxicity with one tablespoonful of fish oil and one tablespoonful of flaxseed oil daily—but that’s another discussion for another time. For now, if you’re thinking of taking micro-dose lithium yourself or giving it to a family member who may have cognitive decline, check with your physician skilled and knowledgeable in natural medicine about both lithium and essential fatty acids—and don’t forget vitamin E (as mixed tocopherols) should always accompany dosages of essential fatty acids. Back to micro-dose (or even larger but still low-dose) lithium: as it’s very unlikely to cause harm, why not consider starting it long, long before reaching an age when cognitive decline might occur. And of course, check with your physician skilled and knowledgeable in natural medicine. Endnotes 1 Nunes MA, Viel TA, Buck HS. Microdose lithium treatment stabilized cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Curr Alzheimer Res. 2013 Jan;10(1):104-7.

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Brain Maintenance: Out with the Old, in with the New! What if we could slow the process of cellular aging and even reverse it, at least partially? What if we could eliminate older, malfunctioning cells anywhere in our bodies—including our brains—more efficiently, and then stimulate the growth of new, young replacement cells, which could in turn become older more slowly, and be more efficiently removed when their “time has come”? Chances are good we’d all live healthier and for longer, too. Carnosine: Reversing Senescense What’s cellular “senescense”? We all know that “senile” in humans means not just getting older, but becoming less functional both mentally and physically. We’ve also been aware, likely from childhood, that all of our body’s cells are completely replaced over time, some (such as skin) relatively rapidly, and others (such as bone) much more slowly. So what’s new about cells getting older, developing into “senile cells”? What researchers have found—but has been little publicized—is that senile cells which haven’t yet undergone “lysis” (scientese for “dying off”) actually cause trouble for all of the other cells in the same tissue— new cells, young cells, middle aged cells—by initiating and maintaining varying degrees of inflammation. The inflammation caused by senile cells is strong enough to interfere (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot) with normal function of the still healthy cells in that tissue, and the inflammation caused by senile cells continues until the senile cells are gone. In 1994, researchers reported1 that carnosine—an entirely natural, two-aminoacid (“dipeptide”) molecule found only in animal proteins—can slow a cell’s progression into “senescence,” and sometimes actually reverse senescent cells back to a non-senescent state. In either circumstance, inflammation throughout the tissue containing these cells was substantially reduced. In 2000, other researchers2 agreed, writing: “…carnosine appears to be able to extend the lifespan of cultured cells, rejuvenate senescent cells…” Despite the title of the article, which described carnosine as a “drug,”carnosine is entirely natural, and has no known adverse effects. And of course since carnosine can both slow the progress of cellular senescence and reverse it, too, it’s very likely to be health and longevity promoting, as noted in a 2015 research review,3 which stated: “…there is evidence that carnosine can enhance cortisol metabolism, suppress telomere shortening, and exert anti-aging activity… Dietary supplementation with carnosine has been shown to suppress stress in animals, and improve behavior, cognition, and well being in human ‘subjects’. It is therefore proposed that the therapeutic potential of carnosine dietary 9

supplementation towards stress-related and depressive disorders should be examined.” Quercitin: Reversing Senescense, and Senolytic, Too! Quercitin is a flavonoid present in onions, citrus, green tea, berries, apples, buckwheat and sage tea, parsley, blueberries, blackberries, and other fruits and vegetables. Like carnosine, quercitin also can slow a cell’s progression into “senescence,” and sometimes actually reverse senescent cells back to a nonsenescent state. And it can do more, helping to eliminate senescent cells altogether (“lysis”), removing entirely their pro-inflammatory effects in surrounding tissues. The researchers wrote: “…delaying senescence or even promoting death of…senescent cells is proposed as a strategy to prevent agerelated diseases.”4 The evidence that removing senescent cells is good for human health is so strong that patent medicine companies are of course trying to make “analogs” (un-natural but patentable and highly profitable “knock-offs” of natural molecules, with of course inevitable adverse effects) to the safe, effective, and relatively inexpensive senolytics present in Nature and human bodies for hundreds of thousands of years. One report tells us: “Programs in universities and pharmaceutical laboratories around the world are racing to develop senolytic drugs…”5 As we all know, any unNatural “analog” will have adverse effects, but of course be very profitable. Lithium: Making New Brain Cells at Any Age In medical school (which in my case—according to our children—was in the “Dark Ages”) we were told that we have all the brain cells we’re going to have for a lifetime by the time we’ve become adults. From then on (we were told) brain capacity would decline, more rapidly as time passed. One professor told the class “you can always tell a 90-year-old with an X-ray of the skull, the brain is always significantly smaller than a young adult’s brain.” Most readers are well aware that research has by now proven that forming new brain cells is possible at any age. This awareness was triggered in the year 2000 by a publication in The Lancet, a major British medical journal, whose title announced: “Lithium induced increase in human grey matter.”6 Low-dose lithium is now available everywhere supplements are sold. That year-2000 report stimulated me to check into low dose lithium safety, and then start using it myself, as being able to stimulate new brain cell growth appeared a very good idea, and perhaps might promote healthy longevity, a year-2000 guess confirmed in 2011 when one of dozens of lithium research reports told us that in a study of

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1,206,174 individuals, the more lithium naturally occurring in drinking water, the longer the lifespan.7 Other brain-health promoting effects of lithium include protecting brain cells against nearly every toxin, stimulating mitochondrial metabolism in brain cells, repairing brain signaling pathways, reduction in mental health hospital admissions, reduction of aggressive behavior in children…the list of beneficial effects of lithium elsewhere in the body is much, much, much longer. But back to “in with the new cells” in our brains. Taurine Helps Make New Brain Cells, Too! In our brains, taurine (an amino acid) has been found to stimulate growth and proliferation of neural stem cells, the precursor cells that “morph” into nerve cells. One study8 reported: “Taurine…increased the number of human neural precursor cells in culture…The taurine-induced increase ranged from 57 to 188% in the 3 [fetal] brains examined. Taurine significantly enhanced the percentage of neurons formed from human neuronal precursor cells…with increases ranging from 172 to 480% over controls without taurine. Taurine also increased the cell number and neuronal generation in cultures of [an] immortalized human cell line. These results suggest that taurine has a positive influence on human neuronal precursor cell growth and neuronal formation.” Working with aging mice, researchers reported9: “We found that taurine increased cell proliferation in the dentate gyrus [an area of the brain involved in memory formation] through the activation of quiescent [inactive] stem cells, resulting in increased number of stem cells and…neural progenitors. Taurine had a direct effect on stem/progenitor cells proliferation…. Furthermore, taurine increased the survival of newborn neurons, resulting in a net increase in adult neurogenesis. Together, these results show that taurine increases several steps of adult neurogenesis and supports a beneficial role of taurine on hippocampal neurogenesis in the context of brain aging.” ReMIND From time to time, I put together a combination of nutrients that research and/or clinical experience shows is useful for our health. A combination of carnosine, quercitin, lithium and taurine is now available as a supplement named (for hopefully obvious reasons) “ReMind.” It’s available from natural food stores, compounding pharmacies, and the Tahoma Clinic Dispensary—1-888-893-6878. And yes, I am using that combination myself!

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Endnotes 1 McFarland GA, Holliday R. Retardation of the Senescense of Cultured Human Diploid Fibroblasts by Carnosine. Exp Cell Res 1994:212;167-17 2 Wang AM, Ma C, et al. Use of Carnosine as a Natural Anti-senescence Drug for Human Beings. Biochemistry (Moscow) 2000;65(7):1022-1024 3 Hipkiss HR. Possible Benefit of Dietary Carnosine towards Depressive Disorders.Aging and Disease 2015:6(5);300-303 4 Malavolta M, Pierpaoli E et al. Pleiotropic effects of tocotrienols and quercitin on cellular senescence: introducing the perspective of senolytic effects of phytochemicals. Curr Drug Targets 2015 5 https://joshmitteldorf.scienceblog.com/2017/03/28/senolytics-against-agingsnapshot-of-a-fast-moving-field/ 6 Moore GJ, Bebchuk JM et al. Lithium induced increase in human grey matter. The Lancet 2000;356:1241-1242 7 Zarse K, Terao T et al. Low-dose lithium uptake promotes longevity in humans and metazoans. Eur J Nutr 2011:387-389 8 Lyman WD et al. Taurine enhances the growth of neural precursors derived from fetal human brain and promotes neuronal specification. DevelNeurosci 2013 9 Gebara E et al. Taurine increases hippocampal neurogenesis in aging mice. Stem Cell Res 2015

More resources… Green Medicine Newsletter is a monthly publication; available in print and digital formats that provides subscribers with the very best and latest research and advice from one of the pioneers of natural medical protocols, Jonathan V. Wright MD. For anyone interested in treating disease using natural modalities or those looking to maintain health using a diet-based approach, Green Medicine Newsletter will give you the information you need to take control of your health –

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Naturally. If you are not yet a subscriber, click here and begin your journey with this monthly, life changing publication. Tahoma Clinic – the premiere holistic medical clinics in the Puget Sound area of Washington State! Tahoma Clinic Dispensary – providing quality vitamins and supplements for over 40 years. Phone number for orders: 1-888-893-6878. Green Medicine Radio – every Saturday, from Noon until 2 pm Pacific Time. The Call In number for the show is 206-421-5757 or 888-312-5757.

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