Lithium is the most common element used for stabilizing mood swings, mania and depression. Lithium orotate (the lithium salt of orotic acid) is 20 times more bio-active than other lithium salts, allowing a reduction in dosage greatly reducing the likelihood and severity of potential side effects. Each 120 mg capsule provides 4.8 elemental lithium. Lithium Orotate may be effective in treating manic-depressive and bi-polar illness but best avoided by those on a sodium free diet or who are diabetic. NCI Advanced Research Lithium Orotate. Orotates are mineral salts of orotic acid - used by plants and animals to make DNA and RNA. Hans Nieper, a physician and dabbler in off-beat theories of gravitation, used orotates clinically from before 1980 and continued to use them until his death in 1998. He thought thatorotate salts, being neutrally charged, pass easily through cell membranes. In effect, orotate ferries the mineral atoms into cells and tissues, producing higher concentrations.

Nieper promoted orotates as treatments for nearly every ailment imaginable and was consequently ignored; most of his medical claims were never rigorously tested. But in certain applications - such as athletic performance - where his ideas have recently received scientific scrutiny, they have been found to work. Nieper may have been on the right track after all.

Lithium orotate: Lithium has long been used for manic-depression. High doses depress dopamine release, flattening elevated moods; lower doses stimulate serotonin synthesis, producing an antidepressant effect. Lithium reputedly is also neuroprotective, suggesting its use in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It is thought to lower blood glucose levels and to have immune-enhancing and antiviral effects (especially against herpes simplex). Nieper used lithium orotate to treat depression, headaches, migraine, epilepsy, and alcoholism.