Lithium orotate

Treat low-dose lithium as an unproven hypothesis, not a supplement. If you are considering it, talk to a doctor first — especially if you take anti-inflammatory painkillers, ACE inhibitors (a type of blood-pressure drug) or diuretics, or have kidney or thyroid disease.

What it is

Lithium is also a prescription drug, at much higher doses. Lithium orotate is a supplement form sold in low doses, on the idea that small amounts protect the brain and slow aging. It most likely breaks down into ordinary lithium in the stomach,^[1] so it should not be treated as a distinct compound. The wider category of anti-aging compounds is compared on Geroprotectors.

Drinking water: suggestive, inconsistent

Areas with more lithium in their drinking water have lower suicide rates. But these are population-level comparisons, the studies disagree a lot, and publication bias may inflate the link.^[2]

For dementia the picture is mixed. A 2024 systematic review found only five studies, most showing lower risk.^[3] But a Scottish cohort of 37,597 people found no protection, although lithium levels in its water were very low.^[4]

Trials: only in people who already had memory problems

A few small trials point to slower decline, all in people who were already affected:

• two years of low-dose lithium carbonate in 61 older adults with mild cognitive impairment;^[5]
• a 300 µg daily microdose for 15 months in Alzheimer's disease.^[6]

No trial has tested lithium in healthy adults, and none has used lithium orotate.

The 2025 Nature paper

A landmark 2025 Nature paper found that the brain's own lithium is depleted in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease, and that low-dose lithium orotate reversed the disease's pathology in mice.^[7] The reversal is a mouse result, and it does not show that taking lithium prevents dementia in people.

Safety

• No long-term safety trial. No trial has tested the long-term safety of over-the-counter lithium in people, and products vary widely in dose and form.
• More side effects than expected. In a 2025 survey of 211 people taking lithium bought as a supplement, side effects and withdrawal symptoms were more common than expected.^[8]
• Kidneys and thyroid. Lithium is cleared by the kidneys, and at prescription doses it can harm the kidneys and thyroid.
• Interactions. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors and diuretics can raise lithium levels.

What to do

1. Don't take it for longevity. The evidence is hypothesis-generating only.
2. If you are still considering it, see a doctor first, and do not start it alongside NSAIDs, ACE inhibitors or diuretics, or with kidney or thyroid disease, without medical advice.
3. If memory is the worry, see a doctor about it; the small positive trials were in people with diagnosed memory problems.

Further reading

• Aron L et al. Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Nature 2025.^[9]
• Eyre-Watt B et al. The association between lithium in drinking water and neuropsychiatric outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis from across 2678 regions containing 113 million people. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2021.^[10]
• Forlenza OV et al. Clinical and biological effects of long-term lithium treatment in older adults with amnestic mild cognitive impairment: randomised clinical trial. Br J Psychiatry 2019.^[11]
• Hajek T et al. Lithium orotate: distinct compound or simply Li(+) after administration? Br J Psychiatry 2026.^[12]