Lithium Orotate -- An Essential “nutritional lithium”
Lithium Orotate Overview
Lithium orotate, is a salt of orotic acid and lithium. It is available as the monohydrate, LiC5H3N2O4·H2O. In this compound, lithium is non-covalently bound to an orotate ion, rather than to a carbonate or other ion. It is marketed as a dietary supplement, though only barely researched between 1973-1986 to treat certain medical conditions, such as alcoholism, and Alzheimer's disease. Lithium orotate as a dietary supplement that can be used in small doses to treat conditions like manic depression, alcoholism, ADHD and ADD, depression, aggression, PTSD, Alzheimer's Disease and overall stress management.
Why We Need Lithium Orotate? -- Lithium Orotate Essentials
Lithium Orotate is an over-the-counter nutraceutical that consists of orotic acid (a compound produced naturally in the body) and Lithium (an alkali metal). Lithium is present in the diet, mainly in grains and vegetables. This is why the supplement is often called “nutritional lithium.”
Lithium has been added to the World Health Organization’s list of nutritionally essential trace elements. Lithium metal is in the drinking water of many cities, and there is a correlation of lowered incidences of crimes, suicides, and arrests related to drug addictions in these areas. This suggests that Lithium, at a low dosage, has a beneficial effect on behavior.
Another clinical indication of Lithium Orotate is for impulsive aggressive behavior associated with ADHD. We’ve seen a great effect on these individuals within the clinical practice.
Lithium is regarded as a neuroprotective agent. It’s being studied in certain neurodegenerative disorders, namely: Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease. It’s been shown to disrupt glycogen synthase kinase-3, a key enzyme responsible for the development of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Why is Lithium Orotate Called A Drug?
As you can see, Lithium Orotate is really a different drug than full-dose prescription lithium. Lithium is referred to as a drug because lithium compounds, also referred to as lithium salts, are basically used as a psychiatric medication. They are basically used to cure bipolar disorders and manage major depressive illnesses which doesn’t improve after the application of antidepressants. In these diseases, lithium orotate high dose lowers the risk of suicide.
In alternative medicine, lithium orotate is purported to treat and prevent the following conditions:
Alcoholism3
Alzheimer's disease
Anxiety
Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Bipolar disorder3
Cluster headaches
Depression4
Glaucoma
Insomnia
Migraine
Parkinson's disease
Post-traumatic stress disorder
In addition, lithium orotate is used to reduce stress, relieve pain, and improve memory.
How Does Lithium Orotate Work in the Brain?
Lithium helps brain health and function in several ways. But two in particular stand out.
Lithium orotate stabilizes mood. Recent research has discovered that lithium’s mood stabilization effects may be due to its ability to boost the production of new brain cells (neurogenesis).
Lithium orotate inhibits the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β). This inhibition upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) which stimulates neural stem cells to produce new neurons in the hippocampus. When neural stem cells produce new neurons in the hippocampus, mood and memory work as designed. But a breakdown in neurogenesis results in mood disorders.
Lithium orotate has long been known to control mania and stabilize mood in bipolar patients. But it was not generally thought of as an antidepressant. Researchers in Tel Aviv provided the first evidence that inhibiting GSK-3β exerted a rapid antidepressant effect in mice. Another team at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Pennsylvania showed that feeding mice chow laced with low-dose lithium for 15 days produced a dose-dependent antidepressant effect.
Lithium orotate induced gene transcription in the hippocampus, amygdala and hypothalamus. All areas implicated in depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, autism and schizophrenia.
Lithium orotate protects your brain. Your brain cells are at constant risk of damage from exposure to toxins you encounter every day from food, air, water and your environment. And the excitotoxins produced by ordinary brain cell metabolism.
Glutamate plays a major role in the synaptic plasticity needed for learning and memory. But over-activity of glutamate on its NMDA receptors causes neuron death and is implicated in Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease. Lithium inhibits this overactivity. Lithium also increases the production of a neuroprotective protein called bcl-2. Researchers maintain that lithium is the only “medication” that has been demonstrated to significantly increase bcl-2 in several brain areas.
Lithium orotate has also recently been evaluated in preventing and treating traumatic brain injury. In a study conducted in 2014, Dr. Peter Leeds stated that lithium had “demonstrated robust beneficial effects in experimental models of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). These include decreases in TBI-induced brain lesion, suppression of neuroinflammation, protection against blood-brain barrier disruption, normalization of behavioral deficits, and improvement of learning and memory, among others.”
How Long Does Lithium Orotate Take To Work?
Some people may ask, does lithium orotate work right away? The answer is no. It normally takes a few weeks for lithium orotate to start working. Your health care professional will carry out blood tests during the treatment. This is because lithium orotate may affect how well your thyroid or kidney function. It also functions best if the drug level in your body is maintained at a constant level.
Where You Can Order Lithium Orotate?
With people becoming more and more aware of the benefits of Lithium Orotate , the demand for Lithium Orotate supplements has increased greatly in the market. This has led to manufacturing companies vying with each other to produce high-quality supplements to grab share in the market. If you are a health supplements manufacturer planning to foray into the Lithium Orotate supplements market, you must ensure that you are getting the highest-quality Lithium Orotate powder. Sourcing good-quality material is the first step in ensuring the success of any business.
If you are looking for a place to buy Lithium Orotate powder in bulk, the one company you can blindly trust for sourcing raw material is Cofttek. The company, owing to its strong research team and dedicated sales department, has established a worldwide presence in only a short amount of time — it has clients and partners around the world. The Lithium Orotate produced by the company comes in big batches of 25 kgs and is sourced from highest-quality ingredients, thereby ensuring that the supplements produced from it can be trusted for quality and efficacy. If you want to buy Lithium Orotate in bulk, the only place to shop is cofttek.com.
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[2]. Sartori HE (1986). "Lithium orotate in the treatment of alcoholism and related conditions". Alcohol. 3 (2): 97–100. doi: 10.1016/0741-8329 (86)90018-2. PMID 3718672
Smith, D. F.; Schou, M. (March 1979). "Kidney function and lithium concentrations of rats given an injection of lithium orotate or lithium carbonate". The Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 31 (3): 161–163. PMID 34690.
Alevizos B, Alevizos E, Leonardou A, Zervas I (2012). "Low dosage lithium augmentation in venlafaxine resistant depression: An open-label study". Psychiatrike. 23 (2): 143–8. PMID 22796912.
Lithium orotate, carbonate and chloride: pharmacokinetics, polyuria in rats.
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