“Drinking Spring Water and Lithium Absorption: A Preliminary Study”, 2008-11-14 (; backlinks; similar):
Background: In Japan, there are several resorts with cold springs that have mineral water containing relatively high levels of lithium compared to tap water. Visitors to such cold-spring resorts traditionally drink 2 to 4 L of mineral water for several hours in the early morning in the belief that the water has properties which maintain physical health. The present study aimed to investigate whether drinking the water increase serum lithium levels despite frequent urination, and to examine the mental effects of drinking mineral water containing lithium and related factors.
Method: 43 subjects who were not psychiatrically ill gave informed consent to this study. Before and just after drinking the water, serum lithium levels, the State-Trait of Anxiety Inventory (STAI) scores, Profiles of Mood States Test (POMS) scores and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels were measured.
Results: The subjects drank 3.64 L of the water in the early morning. Serum lithium levels were statistically-significantly increased 0.026 → 0.073 mEq/L, which were much lower than the ones used in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. After drinking, most ratings of POMS statistically-significantly improved. Serum lithium levels were positively and statistically-significantly associated with serum BDNF levels, and changes in serum BDNF were negatively and statistically-significantly associated with changes in STAI state scores.
Conclusion: The present findings suggest that drinking mineral water containing very low lithium levels may increase serum lithium levels and improve mental state as a likely consequence of changes in BDNF levels, although improvement in subjective well-being may have been due to placebo effect. Taking several methodological limitations into consideration, further studies are required to confirm this suggestion.
[Keywords: lithium, mineral water, cold spring, STAI, POMS, BDNF]