A recent study suggests that a lack of lithium in the brain may be a major cause of Alzheimer’s disease.

A study conducted at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, suggested that in the future it may be possible to prevent or reverse the disease by controlling the amount of lithium, although no such effects have been seen in patients.

Harvard neuroscientist Bruce Yenker initially wrote that giving high doses of lithium reduced Alzheimer’s symptoms in mice.

Later, his team measured the levels of several metals in the post-mortem brains of participants in the Religious Orders Study. This long-term study included Catholic nuns, priests and brothers aged 65 and older. Of the 26 metals, only lithium was found to be significantly reduced in people with mild disease.

In the study, Bruce Yenker wrote that the most significant change in Alzheimer’s patients was a decrease in lithium levels.