Mood & neurochemistry
Doses far below the psychiatric range inhibit GSK-3 and track lower dementia rates. The trials so far are small, and two of them disagree.
Not yet investigated
Doses far below the psychiatric range inhibit GSK-3 and track lower dementia rates. The trials so far are small, and two of them disagree.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
RCT, 4 years low-dose lithium in amnestic MCI. Found REDUCED regional glucose metabolism — an awkward result for the neuroprotection story, and the reason this is not a clean win.
Well tolerated; GSK-3 biomarkers did not move — authors suggest the dose may have been too low to engage the target.
Systematic review noting low-dose lithium may exert neuroprotective activity in AD.
73,731 dementia cases against 733,653 matched controls in Denmark — and the shape of the result is the story. It is NOT a dose-response line. Against 2.0–5.0 µg/L, dementia was LOWER above 15.0 µg/L (IRR 0.83) but HIGHER at 5.1–10.0 µg/L (IRR 1.22). A U-shape that turns the wrong way in the middle is what confounding usually looks like, and the authors say outright that confounding from other things associated with municipality of residence cannot be excluded. Use this as the evidence that the QUESTION is serious, not as evidence that lithium in water prevents dementia.
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Also in Mood & neurochemistry
The letter
The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
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