I have recently been told, by a naturopath , that when receving B12 injections it is a good idea to take 5mg of Lithium Orotate daily. They felt it helped transport B12 out of the blood stream and into the cells.
I am wondering if anyone else has heard of this? I don't know if it is some kind of scam or if this is a real thing.
Any input would be helpful!
"they felt" doesn't inspire confidence!
If you look at the paper I link below, note that the assessment mentions that lithium can affect thyroid (and other organs). But they didn't actually test thyroid hormones!
It is well known that lithium can cause thyroid issues - probably most often documented in those receiving lithium carbonate for mental health reasons.
The suggested dose isn't high but I'm not convinced a) it is beneficial; b) it is entirely safe.
A toxicological evaluation of lithium orotate
Reviewing the available clinical evidence I found only 2 relevant studies, both of which found that lithium supplementation seems to have a negative effect on B12:
Review : Release of vitamin binding proteins from granulocytes by lithium: vitamin B12 and folate binding proteins
This was a very technical paper and difficult to understand but it does seem to indicate that lithium, at certain dosages, causes the release of transcobalamin III from granulocytes. This is not the active transport protein for B12 which is transcobalamin II. As a result, my understanding is that this reduces the availability of active B12 (on TC-II) , as more B12 gets binded to TC-III. Some extracts:
"Thus, the granulocyte binders for folate and vitamin B12 released under the influence of lithium are extremely similar in homogeneity, elution pattern from ion exchange columns, in the manner in which lithium effects their release, and in being ineffective in delivery of bound vitamin to bone marrow and other dividing cells"
...
"It is unclear why the specific granules of granulocytes contain proteins which bind the two vitamins most intimately involved in DNA synthesis and render these metabolically unavailable for hematopoiesis and, presumably, for other forms of cell division. "
from pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/699... (paywall)
Comparative Study: Vitamin B12 and folate levels and lithium administration in patients with affective disorders
"Conclusions: Our data may represent a lithium-associated decrease in serum B12 concentration. The clinical significance of these findings is not yet clear."
from pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/995...
In conclusion I believe your naturopath has no clue what they are talking about as the available evidence shows that, if lithium supplementation affects B12 at all, the effect is a reduction in available B12, not an increase. They may have read the abstract of the first paper, saw it increased a B12 transport protein and jumped to conclusions about how lithium affects B12 without reading the full paper and understanding it.
Given this example, I would not trust their opinion on topics B12 since they don't have a thorough understanding of it and are making guesses about what might help B12 without really understanding what a research paper is saying.
The paper also mentions very serious side effects of long-term high doses of lithium - myeloma and leukemia. I would be extremely cautious, as Helvella mentioned.
Hey -- thanks for the detailed reply. this "lithium orotate" seems to be a new idea floating around and I am a tad skeptical. I tried to research on the national institutes of health site and found a couple articles , but they were too far above me and hard to understand. The only "evidence" given by my health practitioner was "it lowers the concentration of B12 in blood and moves it into cells" -- but lowering concentration in blood? I'm going to need more research on this.
From my understanding there is a big difference between lithium orotate and lithium, the latter being a more potent prescription drug matter. People often mistake them for them being the same:...Lithium orotate is a nutritional supplement form of lithium, used in micro doses much like zinc or selenium. Most people, when they hear “lithium,” think of the medication used to treat bipolar disorder. That is available only by prescription, and is a different form of lithium called lithium carbonate.1. nov. 2021...
naturalmentalhealth.com/blo...
amenclinics.com/blog/unders...
geneticlifehacks.com/a-litt...
instituteofmineralresearch....
I am not advising to take or not take L O., and you should know not to take it when on NSAIDs, even microdosing! But maybe test to see if you are in need of it. I am also in the MTHFR community, and here many do take lithium-orotate, due to deficiency. I don't, but I have tested some years ago, and didn't need it, despite me taking Hydroxocobalamin injections every 7 weeks (PA)....
Fair points about the dosage difference between prescription lithium and lithium orotate. On lithium orotate I can only see unreliable or unreferenced claims from integrative or naturopathic sources so this doesn't give me any confidence that taking small doses would be effective or useful in any way, even they are not harmful - something I'm not totally confident of - I would like to see better safety data etc, especially with anything that might even potentially negatively effect B12 or increase cancer risk.
There is a fairly recent paper
Lithium orotate: A superior option for lithium therapy?
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Speculates about the possibility it crosses the blood-brain barrier more readily than lithium carbonate. Which, if so, implies that you might need a lower dose to have whatever impact it has within the brain. How much lower is wholly unclear.
This paper from 1992 might have some relevance to the relation with B12:
Lithium in scalp hair of adults, students, and violent criminals. Effects of supplementation and evidence for interactions of lithium with vitamin B12 and with other trace elements
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/138...
There does seem to be an interaction between lithium and B12 transport. I'm just not certain that we know whether supplementation of any form of lithium is going to be helpful or harmful. There is evidence that high doses seem to be harmful to B12 transport functions so I think still needs better research to know whether supplementation would be useful/safe.
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A post about sterile water 
Confused about what should a be concern
