Researchers Say Adding Lithium To Tap Water May Lower Suicide Rates

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According to a recent study, adding lithium to tap water may help with lowering suicide rates. Lithium is a chemical element, the lightest metal actually, which is heavily used in the industry, especially in electronics, metallurgy and silicon nano-welding.

However, as per the study quoted above that reviewed the naturally occuring lithium levels in water in 1286 regions in Japan, Italy, Greece, Austria, the UK and the US, there is a strong correlation between the amount of lithium in the drinking water and mental health.

More precisely, the regions with higher amounts of lithium in the public drinking water supply saw less suicides per capita in the general population. Or, to put it another way, the more naturally occurring lithium in the drinking water there is, the less mental issues there are in the general population.

At least that’s the theory, and according to researchers, adding trace lithium in the drinking water supply may help with what is commonly described as the suicide epidemic that’s currently sweeping the United States. According to the CDC, suicide is a leading cause of death in the US, and lithium has a proven potential to improve community mental health, and thus to exert an anti suicidal effect en masse.

Here’s from the study:

It is promising that higher levels of trace lithium in drinking water may exert an anti-suicidal effect and have the potential to improve community mental health. The prevalence of mental health conditions and national suicide rates are increasing in many countries. Worldwide, over 800,000 people die by suicide every year, and suicide is the leading cause of death among persons aged 15-24 years.”

Lithium is currently a common “drug” prescribed in psychiatry for patients with mental health conditions, and it’s particularly effective in treating manic and depressive episodes of bipolar disorder, and also a common treatment for mood disorders.

We don’t know if lithium will join fluoride in the list of ” beneficial substances readily available” in the public water supply of many cities in the US, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

The more common sense approach would be to find the reasons why people are killing themselves in the first place, instead of force-feeding them with psychiatric drugs, but we’re living in strange times.

Photo Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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Chris Black
Chris Black
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations."