How About Putting Lithium in the Drinking Water, to Reduce Suicide?

Lithium is a mineral that’s known to be effective in preventing suicide in people with mood disorders. And a new study has shown that very low levels of lithium in drinking water (compared to none) may help prevent suicide. The report, which comes from Japan, is in the British Journal of Psychiatry online.

Lithium levels were measured in the tap water in the 18 municipalities of Oita prefecture in Japan, and the levels set in relation to the suicide standardized mortality ratio (the ratio of observed deaths to expected deaths) for each municipality. The lithium levels ranged between 0.7 and 59 micrograms per liter. The scientists found that the suicide rate was significantly lower in those municipalities with the highest levels of lithium in the water.

Don’t worry – they aren’t going to put lithium in the drinking water, just yet. First there should be a review of the existing evidence for the effectiveness of lithium in this respect, and further research should be done to reproduce the Japanese findings and to determine the “effective” level of lithium. Then the great debate will come. Activists are still protesting the addition of fluoride to water, iron and/or folic acid to bread, and iodine to salt. I don’t think we’ll see lithium addition to drinking water for another 20 years, but what do I know . . .