Regular readers of The Lithium Voice will know that lithium is produced industrially from rocky minerals and saline brines. But where else can you find lithium in the natural world? The answer is almost everywhere, including in you!
How did it get there?
Lithium is the 30th most common element in the Earth’s crust, averaging 0.002% or 20 parts per million (ppm). Lithium atoms are very small, light and highly soluble in water. In addition, some of them have been around since the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, which has given them plenty of time to become widely dispersed in nature.
Life first appeared on Earth about 4 billion years ago in oceans containing dissolved lithium salts (0.17 ppm). Over millennia, as life evolved, lithium has always been present in and around all living creatures, including humans. In fact, our bodies naturally contain lithium and we all consume trace amounts of it every day, in the food we eat and in the liquids we drink.
Whenever we make a cup of coffee using tap water (which is often groundwater), rehydrate with branded mineral waters in a gym, or enjoy a glass or wine or beer after work with friends, we will take in a tiny amount of lithium too. But don’t be alarmed, this is quite normal and safe; after all, our ancestors have survived for millions of years on a similar diet.
Lithium in your body
“Lithium is an important micronutrient in the human diet”, Dr Romain Millot, a French geochemist and expert in lithium isotopes, explained to The Lithium Voice.
The average 70kg adult human body is estimated to contain about 7 milligrams of lithium (about 0.1 ppm), which is mostly found in your brain, kidneys and bones. This amount is thought to remain fairly constant; what we consume passes through us and out again relatively quickly.
“The exact molecular function of lithium as an essential trace element is not fully understood yet”, Dr Millot explained. Perhaps because of this uncertainty the World Health Organisation (WHO) does not currently list lithium as an essential nutrient or give a recommended daily intake. However, several studies have suggested a correlation between higher levels of lithium in our diet and lower risks of dementia, reduced Alzheimer disease mortality and less suicide risk.
But while the role of lithium might be unclear, a recent paper by Dr Gerhard Schrauzer at the University of California, San Diego, in the US, claimed that an adult human does have a daily requirement of lithium, but only of ~1 mg per day.
Perhaps the fashion for lithium-enriched spas and drinks from the 1860s to the 1920s was on the right track, after all?
Lithium-rich waters
Since prehistoric times sources of clean water have been highly valued and arguably none more so than natural springs and wells, which were often the only safe sources of water that could be drunk without boiling it first. The association between spring water and health is therefore deeply rooted.
In Europe natural mineral waters were first bottled and traded in the mid-16th century, for example at Spa in Belgium and Vichy in France. In the 1860s techniques were developed to analyse the minerals dissolved in water and lithium was found to occur in many natural springs across the world, including at Baden-Baden in Germany, Bath in the UK, Lithia Springs in Georgia, USA, and the Uchinomaki Onsen on Mount Aso, Japan.
Often spas, hotels and public baths were built for tourists to “take the water” at natural springs and by the late 19th Century they were big business. Adverts would prominently feature the unique chemical analysis of the water at that resort; “proving” the health benefits with science, or so it was claimed.
Each natural water is unique in composition and taste, and not all of them contain lithium. A comprehensive study of groundwaters used for public and domestic use in the US found that lithium levels varied widely, with concentrations ranging from less than 1 part per billion (ppb or μg/L) to 1,700 ppb. Higher concentrations of lithium in the groundwater were typically found in arid regions and older groundwater, and the study suggests that natural influences, such as local rock chemistry, climate and mixing with saline waters, are the primary contributors to increase lithium levels.
‘Healthy’ drinks
In the late 19th century as the railway network expanded, shipments of mineral water from springs to cities increased rapidly, popularising the ‘healthy’ waters far and wide. To take advantage of this trend many lithium-enriched drinks were developed which claimed similar health benefits but often tasted a lot better. By the early 20th Century in the US one could purchase Lithia Coke (Coca-Cola syrup mixed with lithium-bearing water), Lithia Beer (brewed in West Bend, Wisconsin) and Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime soda (which today we know as 7Up, but which no-longer contains lithium).
Lithium in modern drinks
If you are seeking a lithium-containing bottled water then it is not hard to find, although admittedly lithium is rarely listed on the contents label as the level contained is usually far lower than magnesium, sodium and other elements. Examples of lithium-rich bottled waters include the Italian water San Pellegrino (0.12 ppm) and from China 5100 Tibet Spring (0.25ppm) and Nongfu Spring Lithium Water (>0.2ppm).
Lithium is common in other drinks too. A 2020 study of 160 different drinks in Germany found that on average the lithium content in red wine was 17 parts per billion (ppb), white wine 8 ppb, cola drinks 8 ppb, energy drinks 24 ppb and beers ranging from 3 to 20 ppb.
Should we take lithium as a dietary supplement?
No, this is not necessary since we naturally consume sufficient lithium to meet our bodies’ requirements. Nor are such supplements easily available; in the author’s experience France is the only country where you can buy lithium dietary supplements without a prescription (as ampules of lithium citrate or lithium gluconate).
In conclusion, lithium does appear to play an important role as a micronutrient in the human diet, even if scientists are still trying to identify what that role is. The good
news is that we need very little dietary lithium and it is freely available in many types of food and drink. Lithium occurs throughout the universe, all over the world and even in our bodies (100 ppb). Lithium is natural, everywhere and (for reasons doctors still don’t fully understand) an important element for life.
Medical notice: The level of dietary lithium discussed in this article is approximately 1/1000th the typical daily dose of medical lithium, a powerful mental health medicine which should only be taken after professional medical advice. Medical lithium should never be taken as a dietary supplement.
