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Should lithium be added to our drinking water ?

By T.K. Randall
August 10, 2020 · Comment icon 54 comments

Would you be happy with lithium being added to your water supply ? Image Credit: sxc.hu
A new study suggests that adding the psychoactive chemical to water supplies could reduce suicide rates.
Adding any sort of mind-altering substance to the nation's water supply might seem like an outrageous proposition - especially when it is one that is typically prescribed to patients with mood disorders.

According to a new study by Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), however, there is in fact a strong link between areas with a naturally occurring excess of lithium in the water supply and a reduction in suicide rates among the local populace.

"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," said study lead author Prof Anjum Memon.

"In these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent increase in the incidence of mental health conditions, accessing ways to improve community mental health and reduce the incidence of anxiety, depression and suicide is ever more important."
The study, which draws upon data spanning three decades from multiple countries, indicates that those in lithium-rich areas ingest a low, but constant supply of it - often from birth.

Exactly how much would need to be taken to have an effect however remains unclear.

Given the potential for unwanted side effects and the lack of research on the long-term disadvantages of ingesting lithium, it would seem ill-advised to actually introduce the chemical on this basis.

Even so, it does offer an insight into how the content of our drinking water can impact our health.

Source: Vice.com | Comments (54)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #45 Posted by ChrLzs 4 years ago
Awww... sooo cute when they get angry!!
Comment icon #46 Posted by OverSword 4 years ago
Aww...so not cute when they give  scientific lectures over a joke as if speaking to someone mentally deficient followed by an insult to an entire nation.  I apologize if you have some kind of condition such as autism or turrets, that would explain the obnoxious tone your posts seem to have.  Or perhaps you feel so powerless in life that lecturing strangers on the web is a way of compensating.  There are a few people here like that.  They all tend to have no sense of humor as normal people understand it.
Comment icon #47 Posted by and then 4 years ago
I've worked in places that could have benefited from a Valium Lick next to the time clock  
Comment icon #48 Posted by Humbled Hypocrite83 4 years ago
That was uncalled for let's be adults 
Comment icon #49 Posted by Humbled Hypocrite83 4 years ago
Wow take a deep breathe 
Comment icon #50 Posted by Humbled Hypocrite83 4 years ago
I get it you two know each other. It was funny anyways.
Comment icon #51 Posted by aztek 4 years ago
distilled water is not that healthy to drink,  my filters cost me about 100 a year.    there is even better way than filters and distillers, natural water ability to cleanse itself,  water has to flow the way it flows in nature in order for it to turn on, our pipes make it impossible,.   there wa sa scientist that studied water in 1930s germany, viktor schauberger.  his work has no equals in the world, neither before nor since.
Comment icon #52 Posted by OverSword 4 years ago
Thanks for the advice. 
Comment icon #53 Posted by Humbled Hypocrite83 4 years ago
Lol your welcome 
Comment icon #54 Posted by Humbled Hypocrite83 4 years ago
A guy by the last name of Wiley fixed this years ago


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