Lithium In Water "Curbs Suicide"

SpuriousLogic writes "Drinking water which contains lithium may reduce the risk of suicide, a Japanese study suggests. Researchers compared levels of lithium in drinking water to suicide rates in the prefecture of Oita, which has a population of more than one million. The suicide rate was significantly lower in those areas with the highest levels of lithium, they wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry. And I was only worried about fluoridation affecting my precious bodily fluids before ..."

Comments

Anyone ever read that Stephen King story?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where they spike the water to cure aggression in people? It doesn't end well.

Lithium is used to fight bipolar disorder

[Anonymous Coward]

It is not widely promoted since it can't be patented. This is not a conspiracy theory (even if it sounds like this), see it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_pharmacology

Re: Lithium is used to fight bipolar disorder

[Tiro]

The problem is, lithium is highly toxic only very slightly above the theraputic threshold, making it extremely dangerous.

If this study shows effects from the amount of Li occuring in drinking water, then perhaps pharmacologists should reevaluate what the theraputic threshold is?

Does not address core problem

[linebackn]

Araaag, drugs drugs drugs drugs. How about addressing the core problem of making life not SUCK so much?!

Re:Does not address core problem

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you make life not suck so much? Seriously -- is it better pay? Free sex? More leisure time? I am depressed about 90% of the time and have been since I was 16 (I'm 40 now). I work part-time (about 3 days/week on average), make a (barely) six figure income, and my wife is bi. I'm not making up a word of this. I should feel incredibly happy, but instead, a life-long sense of despair prevents exactly that.

I think there is a good part of depression that is due to external forces. I can say that when I was poor, it was worse. But a large part of depression is wholly internal and no amount of "making life suck less" is going to change that.

Re:Anyone else massively creeped out by this?

[timeOday]

I don't think anyone's saying anything about scientists PUTTING lithium into the water. They went around and measured levels of lithium already in the water and found that the areas with higher levels had less suicides.

I suppose all water has some level of lithium. Maybe people evolved for lithium-rich water (compared to the worldwide average today) and millions of people worldwide are actually suffering from lithium deficiency. Heck, it even kills some of them.

Re:Not surprising

[Z00L00K]

And maybe the real problem is that the body needs a certain amount of lithium to be stable, but some people need it more than other due to genetic predisposition.

And if we get it through water or through food is a different issue. One contributing fact can also be that we use pure sodium chloride in our cooking instead of a mix of salts where lithium and potassium also are present.

But it's probably best to avoid chewing on those LiIon batteries. But eating vegetables seems to be a good idea.

Re:Anyone ever watch that Joss Whedon movie?

[Anonymous Coward]

Or how about that Zach Braff film, "Garden State"?
(I highly recommend it, by the way).

Short Version: Because of the lithium, he never feels any emotion at all; eventually chooses to give it up and just resolve the problems that have been making him depressed.

I still recommend seeing the movie though!

Re:Anyone else massively creeped out by this?

[x2A]

"Im certainly not advocating spiking the water with anything but fluoride"

Does that mean that you do advocate putting fluoride in water? A chemical used in the treatment of hyperthyroidism (until safer alternatives where found)? I guess it would make sense that if you don't like overly-energetic people (which I'm not arguing with you about!) disrupting TSH receptor site activity within their thyroid gland with fluoride to slow their production of thyroxine probably would be a good thing... so was just wondering if you are a fluoride in water advocate, or whether you mean you're just abstaining from commenting on that one particular chemical? (or of course the option's there that I am mistaken with regards to the effect of fluoride on the thyroid)

That's it. I'm off to the mineral springs.

[spun]

I resemble this remark. Fortunately for me, there is a mineral hot spring LOADED with lithium an hour away from me.

So, ah, I'm curious. Who else here has this problem, and how bad? I'm cyclothymic, which is a pretty mild version of bipolor disorder, and I've been keeping it (mostly) under control with sertraline.

I've had suicidal ideation, mainly as a teen, but no actual attempts. Mostly, I just get totally manic about a project for a month or two, and have a hard time sleeping, eating, or focusing on anything else. Then a couple weeks of normal. Then a month or two of eating too much and not being able to focus on anything, then a week or two of normal again.