Here’s what we’ll cover in this blog post:
- What the new study found about lithium and Alzheimer’s disease
- How lithium deficiency accelerates brain aging
- What this means for prevention and actionable next steps
Brain health is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about pillars of longevity. And it’s not just a concern for old age: it’s central to how we live, think, perform, create, and connect every day.
That’s because cognitive decline and neurodegeneration doesn’t happen suddenly. It’s a slow burn, occurring decades before clinical diagnosis and progressing through stages: first forgetfulness, then brain fog, impulsivity, and reduced focus. These early symptoms can progress through mild cognitive impairment before culminating in full-blown Alzheimer’s disease.
The lifetime risk of dementia after age 55 is over 40% and for individuals with genetic risk factors like the APOE4 gene, it can be closer to 60%, odds worse than a coin toss. The good news is that our brains are also remarkably elastic. They retain the ability to regenerate, rewire, and adapt well into late life, if we support it with the right inputs. In fact, research suggests that at least 45% of dementia risk is modifiable with lifestyle, nutrition, and targeted interventions that shape our brain’s aging trajectory.
What Are the Most Impactful Interventions for Protecting Brain Health?
Most brain health strategies emphasize foundational habits like sleep, exercise, micronutrient supplementation (like omega-3s), along with minimizing exposure to heavy metals and environmental pollutants. But a growing body of research is shining a light on a surprising metal that may actually shield our brain health: lithium.
Used for decades to treat bipolar disorder, lithium is emerging as a potential neuroprotective agent against Alzheimer’s disease when used at low doses.
A new study in Nature provides the strongest human and animal evidence yet that lithium deficiency contributes directly to cognitive decline. Further, supplementing lithium can be a powerful neuroprotective intervention. So potent, in fact, that it could even counteract the impact of the worst genetic and environmental risk factors.
As Bruce Yankner, one of the authors of the paper, puts it:
“[Lithium] powers our phones, laptops, and electric vehicles. My guess is the brain might have utilized this unique electrochemistry before we did.”
What Did the New Lithium and Alzheimer’s Study Show?
The researchers measured 27 metals in human brains. Only lithium levels stood out as significantly altered, markedly lower in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer’s compared to healthy controls. Blood levels of lithium, however, were no different, meaning the brain was having trouble accessing lithium.
Why? The researchers found that lithium was getting stuck in amyloid plaques, clumps of proteins that build up in the brain, most commonly associated with Alzheimer’s. In effect, amyloid plaque in the brain was acting like sticky fly paper, trapping lithium and blocking it from reaching healthy brain tissue. This disrupted the delicate ecosystem of metals in the brain and deprived neurons of lithium needed for normal signaling and resilience.
The association between lithium levels and brain health was clear: individuals with lower brain lithium scored worse on standardized tests of memory and overall cognitive function, while those with higher levels scored better.
Can Lithium Deficiency Cause Cognitive Decline?
To test causation, the team turned to mouse models, both genetically predisposed to Alzheimer’s and naturally aging mice with cognitive decline. Diets low in lithium caused:
- Increased amyloid plaque accumulation
- Overactive, inflammatory microglia (immune cells in the brain)
- Brain degeneration and memory loss
Conversely, supplementing lithium improved memory, learning, and reduced neuroinflammation. Importantly, only lithium given in the form of lithium orotate (a chemical form less likely to get trapped in plaques) enhanced microglial clearance of plaques and restored brain function.
In naturally aged mice, lithium orotate supplementation actually restored memory performance to youthful levels in object recognition and maze tasks.
Even at the molecular level, the story matched. The researchers used a laboratory technique known as single-nucleus RNA sequencing, a way to assess the genes that brain cells are turning on and off to determine the decisions cells are making. This showed that lithium deficiency in mice created the same cellular stress response, inflammation, and communication breakdowns seen in human Alzheimer’s brains. Supplementation with lithium reversed this, reactivating gene programs needed for neuroplasticity, learning, and memory.
How Much Lithium Is Needed for Brain Health?
Here’s the striking part: lithium levels in cognitively intact human brains were 1,000x lower than those used clinically for bipolar disorder. Observational and interventional tudies suggest that microdoses of just 0.02–0.3mg per day can be protective, orders of magnitude lower than conventional psychiatric doses, with no known toxicity risk.
One particularly interesting study suggests individuals living in regions with higher naturally occurring lithium in drinking water demonstrate ~20% lower rates of Alzheimer’s. Smaller, controlled clinical trials in Alzheimer’s patients have also shown that small doses can slow cognitive decline.
Should We All Be Taking Lithium?
Lithium is inexpensive, safe at low doses, and even found naturally in foods like cereals, tomatoes, cabbage, mineral waters, green tea, and spices like coriander and cumin.
So why isn’t everyone supplementing? Experts are cautious, arguing for larger, definitive trials to establish optimal dosing. But there’s a paradox here: waiting for perfect evidence could mean missing the prevention window for an irreversible disease.
How to Use Lithium to Support Brain Health
This new Nature study goes above and beyond. It doesn’t just show an association, but also suggests a causative role of lithium deficiency in Alzheimer’s progression. It also demonstrates that restoring lithium availability, especially in forms that avoid getting stuck in sticky brain plaque, can rescue memory and reduce inflammation.
While the scientific community debates next steps, the evidence so far points toward microdosing lithium as a potentially powerful, low-risk, and accessible strategy for Alzheimer’s prevention. So how can we take an evidence-based approach to lithium supplementation?
Most over-the-counter lithium supplements start at around 1mg per pill, which is actually higher than what daily use for brain health likely requires, but still squarely within the safe zone. Because lithium clears slowly from the body, taking a 1mg capsule every two to three days may still help maintain stable, protective levels over time.
Combined with targeted interventions like Methylene Blue and neuroprotective lifestyle habits like resistance training, intermittent fasting, deep sleep, and social engagement, microdosing lithium may be one of the safest and most cost effective supplements to protect brain health.
Note: The above statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.