FACT BRIEF

Have researchers suggested that adding lithium to drinking-water supplies could reduce suicide rates?

Thursday, January 21, 2021

By Austin Tannenbaum

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YES

U.K. researchers have suggested that supplementing water supplies with lithium — an element used to treat bipolar disorder — could reduce suicide rates, particularly in at-risk communities.

A 2020 analysis published in the British Journal of Psychiatry reviewed 15 studies that evaluated the relationship between rates of naturally occurring lithium in water supplies and rates of suicide. The analysis “showed a consistent protective association between lithium levels in publicly available drinking water and total suicide mortality rates.” Researchers proposed that their findings could be further tested in field trials that introduce lithium into the water supplies of communities with high rates of mental illness, crime, substance abuse and suicide.

Lithium has been employed in psychiatry since the 19th century and was formerly used as an ingredient in soft drinks such as 7-Up.

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Sources

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press: British Journal of Psychiatry—Association between naturally occurring lithium in drinking water and suicide rates

National Library of Medicine: Canadian Institute of Health Research—The history of lithium therapy

Vintage News Vintage News: When 7-Up was created in 1929 it contained lithium, a mood-stabilizing drug

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