Critical Mineral for All?

There is a mineral that can balance brain chemistry and protect the brain from damage. Some of us are deficient in this mineral without knowing it and are suffering unnecessarily. We avoid talking about it because of stigma from 30 year ago. 

In very large doses, lithium is a medication given to individuals with psychiatric illness. In very small, nutritional doses, lithium becomes a critical mineral with many important positive properties. Lithium may be tied to manifestations of anxiety (children and adults), ADHD, ADD, sensory processing disorder, various behavioral issues in children and perhaps even elements of autism, colic… come and learn why.

Lithium Facts:

• Did you know that lithium use to be a primary ingredient in 7-up?
• In micro/nutritional (1mg) doses, lithium can calm the brain by activating the braking system within the brain by helping the release GABA and activating GABA receptors?[1] [2] This poor GABA activity along with the reduced BDNF may be the reason why some children have colic, sensory processing disorders, ADD, anxiety……. How about the adults?
• Did you know that lithium acts as a powerful anti-oxidant in the brain and CHANGES epigenetic gene expression to increase BDNF, which is one of the most powerful compounds to protect the brain? BDNF is important for learning and memory formation. It helps the brain becomes resilient to various compounds including excitatory glutamate. BDNF protects our brain cells, which may help ward off dementia and other neuro-cognitive disease later in life. It facilitates the production of various other neuroprotective compounds.[3] [4] [5] [6]
• Lithium acts as a powerful anti-inflammatory and actually helps reduce the inflammatory response.[7] This anti-inflammatory effect may even help heal the gut.[8] I have found several children who were taking lithium to suddenly have much better gut functioning than before.
• Did you know that lithium helps increase the absorption to folate and B12 into the brain?[9] If you have MTHFR defects and taking methyl-folate and methyl-B12, all of this supplementation may be far less effective without lithium on board! Are we seeing an epidemic of tongue-ties not because of MTHFR mutations, but perhaps because of lithium deficiency?

How many more children and adults need to suffer before we get over the stigma from 30 years ago? Lithium can be a game changer for 10% of us! Help us get the word out!

Dr. James Greenblatt, a great psychiatrist, has been teaching about lithium for some time. Please check out his blog:

https://www.zrtlab.com/blog/archive/nutritional-lithium-brain-health-cinderella-story#_edn2

REFERENCES:

[1] https://psychopharmacologyinstitute.com/mood-stabilizers/mechanism-action-lithium-illustrated-review/

[2] http://www.jpands.org/vol20no4/marshall.pdf

[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701214

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12504924

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4294125/

[6] http://www.jpands.org/vol20no4/marshall.pdf

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1221339/pdf/10998351.pdf

[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5560707/pdf/pone.0183284.pdf

[9] https://www.scribd.com/doc/125176090/lithium-induced-perturbations-of-vitamin-b12-folic-acid-and-dna-metabolism