Research: Lithium and Dementia
From The Week Magazine:
Lithium as a cheap Alzheimer's cure:Administering small amounts of lithium can reverse Alzheimer's disease and restore brain function in mice, a breakthrough study shows. Researchers at Harvard Medical School found that giving a low-lithium diet in healthy mice caused them to lose brain synapses and struggle with memory. Conversely, feeding lithium orotate to aging mice that already had memory problems caused these problems to disappear. Lithium naturally occurs in the brain in just a tiny amount, but it is vital to brain function: it maintains the connections that let neurons talk to one another and helps guard against buildup of amyloid plaques and tau tangles, which are seen in Alzheimer's patients. Lithium taken orally is already used to treat bipolar disorder, and the amount required to make up for a deficiency in the brain would be just 1/1000th of typical bipolar dose. "Because lithium is dirt cheap" paleontologist Matt Kaeberlein of University of Washington, who wasn't part of the study, tells The Washington Post, "hopefully we will get rigorous, randomized trials testing this very, very quickly."
Good Sources of Dietary Lithium
Grains and Cereals
Legumes: (lentils, beans, chickpeas)
Vegetables: (potatoes, cabbage, leafy greens, root vegetables)
Nuts and Seeds: (pistachios, sunflower seeds, hazelnuts)
Seafood: (some types of fish and seaweed)
Dairy Products
Mineral Waters: and certain beverages like wine and beer
I eat a ton of cabbage instead of lettuce, cottage cheese and walnuts.
The town was once a resort with a hotel and a golf course. The water's still there, but I don't know if it's commercially available.
"Nuts (like cashews and walnuts) and legumes (like lentils) are consistently cited among the highest-lithium common foods." (source: ChatGPT)