The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the association between
lithium levels in the public water supply and prefecture-based suicide rates in Greece. Analyses were conducted with respect to
lithium levels in 149 samples from 34 prefectures of Greece. The average
lithium level was 11.10 μg/l (range 0.1 to 121 μg/l). The results indicate that there is a tendency for lower suicide rates in the prefectures with high levels of
lithium in
drinking water. Ecological studies explained by researchers Schrauzer and Shrestha have revealed the existence of statistically significant inverse associations between the
lithium levels in
drinking water and the incidence of suicides, homicides, rapes, possession of
narcotic drugs, and in juveniles, the rates of runaway from home. Such a result of inverse relationship was not proven by Kabacs et al., most likely because the differences of the
lithium levels in the selection of their case-control samples were not large enough. In addition, probably the selection of random regions in Japan and East England might have been biased. Thus, the addition of small amounts of
lithium to the
drinking water could provide an effective means to lower the incidence of these conditions in the general population. Furthermore, the nutritional importance of
lithium in the form of the
carbonate named
lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) is currently still viewed primarily as a pharmacological agent. The study by Al-Chalabi et al. state that the therapeutic activity of
lithium in
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is worth investigating. Any
drug that can be shown to slow the course of ALS in a clinically significant way and to be safe and well tolerated will be an important advance for patients with this disease.