The form we use
17 CENTS a day.
Or 6 months for $30.
Lithium Orotate. 180 capsules, one a day.
15% off with this code
HOLISTICLOVEPaste it in the discount box at checkout. It is not applied automatically, so without it you pay full price.
Prefer the long version? Read it here -- the full story with all 18 citations.
Then it was taken out, and nobody asked what we removed.
Before it was a soda it was a spa. People travelled to lithia springs to drink the water on purpose, and in 1929 a lithiated soda was the mainstream product, not a fringe one. In 1948 it came out of every soda in America.
The element did not stop existing. It leaches from rock into groundwater, so how much is in your tap water depends on the geology under your town. Two places an hour apart can differ enormously. Nobody assigned that, geology did, and that accident is what researchers have been studying since 1990.
The questions people actually ask
Start with the one that decides everything else.
Almost every argument about this collapses once you separate the trace amount in water from the prescription drug. Tap any question.
Is lithium safe?
The answer depends entirely on which lithium you mean, and the gap between them is enormous.
The answer depends entirely on which lithium you mean, and the gap between them is enormous.
Prescription lithium is given at a pharmacologic dose, commonly 600 to 1200 mg a day, with routine blood monitoring because the margin between a working level and a harmful one is narrow. It has documented effects on the kidneys and the thyroid and it is managed by a clinician for exactly that reason.
What occurs naturally in groundwater is a trace amount, orders of magnitude below that. Those two things share a name and very little else. Anyone taking a prescribed medication, pregnant or nursing, or living with a kidney or thyroid condition should be having this conversation with their own clinician rather than with a web page.
Is lithium orotate the same as prescription lithium?
No. Same element, completely different amount, completely different context.
No. Same element, completely different amount, completely different context.
Orotate is simply the carrier the element is bound to, the way magnesium can be bound to glycinate or citrate. The part that matters is not the carrier, it is how much elemental lithium is present, and in a nutritional product that figure sits far below a prescribed dose.
This is the single most common confusion on the subject, and it is worth being precise about it before anything else.
Why was lithium in 7UP?
Because it was in the spa water first, and the soda industry followed the customer.
Because it was in the spa water first, and the soda industry followed the customer.
Lithia springs were a genuine destination in the 1800s and early 1900s. People travelled to drink the water on purpose. When bottled drinks arrived, a lithiated lemon-lime soda was not a fringe product, it was a mainstream one, sold under the name Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda from 1929.
It was removed from American sodas in 1948. That much is documented history and there is nothing hidden about it.
Is lithium a mineral or a drug?
It is an element. Whether it is also a nutrient is still an open scientific question.
It is an element. Whether it is also a nutrient is still an open scientific question.
There is no recommended intake for lithium the way there is for magnesium or zinc. A serious argument has been published that there should be, and it has not been settled. We are saying it is unsettled because it is.
That is the honest state of it. The reviews arguing the nutrient case are linked in full at the bottom of this page so you can read the argument rather than take our summary of it.
What does the drinking water research actually show?
Patterns across regions. Not what happens to any individual person.
Patterns across regions. Not what happens to any individual person.
These are ecological studies. They compare places with more of it in the water against places with less, across Texas, Japan, Austria, England and Denmark, over 35 years. That is a real method with a real limit, and the limit is the important part: it can raise a question at population scale and it cannot establish cause in one person.
That is precisely why this has stayed a research question for three decades rather than becoming a recommendation, and why nothing on this page is phrased as one.
Does lithium affect bone?
There is a real observational signal and a plausible mechanism, and it is not settled either.
There is a real observational signal and a plausible mechanism, and it is not settled either.
A case-control study and a later meta-analysis both reported lower fracture risk among people taking prescribed lithium, and laboratory work points at the Wnt pathway, which is one of the routes bone-building cells use. Those are different populations and different doses from anything discussed on this page.
We wrote the longer version of this separately so it could name mechanisms properly. It is linked below.
35 years of asking the same question
Texas. Japan. Austria. England. Denmark.
Five countries, independent teams, same question. These are ecological studies: they compare regions, not people. They can show a pattern across a population and cannot tell you what happens to one person.
- Lithium in drinking water and the incidences of crimes, suicides, and arrests related to drug addiction (Texas, 1990)
- Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide (Japan, Oita, 2009)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide mortality (Austria, 2011)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide rates across the East of England (2011)
- Lithium in tap water and suicide mortality in Japan (2013)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide: a sex difference and dose-response relationship (2022)
The question then moved to the ageing brain.
A Danish national cohort, then a 2024 systematic review. In 2025 a lab group reported the brain holds this element and the amount falls in Alzheimer's disease. That one is an animal study, labelled as such because the difference matters.
- Low-level lithium in drinking water and subsequent risk of dementia: cohort study (2023)
- Trace lithium levels in drinking water and risk of dementia: a systematic review (2024)
- Trace lithium for suicide prevention and dementia prevention: a qualitative review (2024)
- Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer's disease (2025)animal study
Is it even a nutrient? Genuinely unsettled.
There is no recommended intake. A serious argument says there should be. It is unsettled, and we are saying so rather than picking the flattering side.
- Is Lithium a Micronutrient? From biological activity and epidemiological observation to food fortification (2019)
- Dietary lithium, silicon, and boron: an updated critical review of their roles in metabolic regulation (2026)
- Effects of nutritional lithium supplementation on mood: a placebo-controlled study (1994)
15% off with this code
HOLISTICLOVEPaste it in the discount box at checkout. It is not applied automatically, so without it you pay full price.
Read this part twice
This is not the lithium from a psychiatric hospital.
That is a prescription drug, commonly 600 to 1200 mg a day, monitored with blood tests because the margin is narrow, with real kidney and thyroid considerations. What occurs in groundwater is a trace amount, orders of magnitude below it.
Treating those two as the same substance is the most common mistake made about this subject, which is why it leads here rather than sitting in a footnote.
If you take a prescribed medication, are pregnant or nursing, or have any kidney or thyroid condition, this is a conversation for your own clinician and not for a web page. This element is cleared by the kidneys, so kidney function is the one number worth knowing first.
Want to know your own numbers? The Lab Library explains 173 markers in plain English, including kidney and thyroid panels. Free, nothing to buy.
What it costs
Lithium Orotate
$30
for the bottle
At the labelled one a day, a 180 capsule bottle runs about six months. That is the entire commercial argument, and it does not ask you to believe anything about the research above.180
capsules
At the labelled one a day, a 180 capsule bottle runs about six months. That is the entire commercial argument, and it does not ask you to believe anything about the research above.~17¢
a day
At the labelled one a day, a 180 capsule bottle runs about six months. That is the entire commercial argument, and it does not ask you to believe anything about the research above.About six months a bottle. That is the whole commercial argument and it asks you to believe nothing about the research above. Read the studies, decide for yourself.
15% off with this code
HOLISTICLOVEPaste it in the discount box at checkout. It is not applied automatically, so without it you pay full price.
One thing worth knowing before you search this yourself: a widely shared paper claiming this element extends human lifespan in UK Biobank data has been retracted. It still circulates. We left it out on purpose, and you should check any source that still quotes it.
Lithium was in 7UP until 1948, and it still occurs naturally in drinking water at amounts that vary widely by geology. Researchers in Texas, Japan, Austria, England and Denmark have compared regions with differing concentrations for about 35 years. That research is ecological, meaning it describes patterns across populations rather than individuals. Trace lithium is not the same as prescription lithium, which is given at 600 to 1200 mg daily under blood monitoring.
Lithium: the common questions
Is lithium safe?
It depends which lithium. Prescription lithium is a pharmacologic dose, commonly 600 to 1200 mg daily, monitored with blood tests because the margin is narrow, with known kidney and thyroid considerations. What occurs naturally in groundwater is a trace amount, orders of magnitude lower. Anyone on a prescribed medication, pregnant or nursing, or with a kidney or thyroid condition should speak with their own clinician.
Is lithium orotate the same as the lithium used in psychiatry?
No. It is the same element at a very different amount. Orotate is the carrier it is bound to, in the way magnesium can be bound to glycinate or citrate. The amount of elemental lithium in a nutritional product sits far below a prescribed dose.
Was there really lithium in 7UP?
Yes. The drink launched in 1929 as Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda and lithium remained in the formula until 1948, when it was removed from American sodas. Lithia spring water was a popular destination before that.
Is lithium found in drinking water?
Yes. It leaches naturally from rock into groundwater, so the amount varies widely by geology. Two areas a short distance apart can differ considerably, and modern treatment removes a portion of what is present.
What does the research on lithium in drinking water show?
Studies from Texas, Japan, Austria, England and Denmark have compared regions with differing concentrations over about 35 years. These are ecological studies, meaning they compare populations rather than individuals, so they can describe a pattern but cannot establish cause for any one person.
Is lithium considered a nutrient?
That is unsettled. There is no established recommended intake. Published reviews have argued the case for treating it as a trace nutrient, and that argument has not been concluded. The reviews are linked on this page.
How much does lithium orotate cost?
The bottle we link is 30 dollars for 180 capsules. At the labelled one a day that is roughly six months, or about 17 cents a day.
Go deeper
The full story
Lithium: the missing mineral everyone overlooks
Why it was in 7UP until 1948, what 35 years of drinking-water research actually found, and the one pathway that ties bone and brain together. 18 citations, all linked.
Read it hereRelated across the site
Every study on this page
Read them yourself.
Linked to the source, not to a summary. Animal studies say so on the line.
Drinking water and population outcomes
- Lithium in drinking water and the incidences of crimes, suicides, and arrests related to drug addiction (Texas, 1990)
- Lithium levels in drinking water and risk of suicide (Japan, Oita, 2009)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide mortality (Austria, 2011)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide rates across the East of England (2011)
- Lithium in tap water and suicide mortality in Japan (2013)
- Lithium in drinking water and suicide: a sex difference and dose-response relationship (2022)
The ageing brain
- Low-level lithium in drinking water and subsequent risk of dementia: cohort study (2023)
- Trace lithium levels in drinking water and risk of dementia: a systematic review (2024)
- Trace lithium for suicide prevention and dementia prevention: a qualitative review (2024)
- Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer's disease (2025)animal study
Is it a nutrient at all
- Is Lithium a Micronutrient? From biological activity and epidemiological observation to food fortification (2019)
- Dietary lithium, silicon, and boron: an updated critical review of their roles in metabolic regulation (2026)
- Effects of nutritional lithium supplementation on mood: a placebo-controlled study (1994)
Bone
- Reduced relative risk of fractures among users of lithium (case-control, 2005)
- Lithium use and risk of fracture: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies (2019)
- Low dose lithium supplementation activates Wnt/beta-catenin signalling and increases bone OPG/RANKL (2019)
- Lrp5-independent activation of Wnt signaling by lithium chloride increases bone formation (2005)
- Lithium and the brain-bone axis: a bridge between osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease (2026)
Education only. Nothing here is medical advice, nothing here diagnoses, treats, cures or prevents any disease, and nothing here replaces a prescribed medication.