engleski

Assessing lithium nutritional status by analyzing its cumulative frequency distribution in the hair and whole blood

Objective: Lithium was recently proclaimed to be an essential trace element in human nutrition. The aim of tins study was to assess lithium nutritional status by analyzing lithium frequency distribution in the long-term biological indicator tissue of hair (H-Li) and in the short-term biological indicator tissue of whole blood (WB- Li). Materials and methods: Hair samples were analyzed in 1, 073 apparently healthy adult Croats (339 males and 734 females) and the whole-blood lithium was analyzed in a random subsample of them (91 males and 143 females). Samples were analyzed using ICP-MS at the Center for Biotic Medicine, Moscow, Russia. Results: There were no gender- dependent differences in the lithium-adequate linear reference range for H-Li and WB-Li where lithium was (µgxg-1) 0.014 — 0.100 and 3.40 — 5.65, respectively. Conclusion: Lithium concentrations below 0.014 µgxg-1 for H-Li and 3.40 µgxg-1 for WB- Li would indicate lithium deficiency. The estimated upper safety lithium limits for H-Li and WB-Li were set at 0.100 and 6.65 µgxg-1, respectively. These preliminary data, are Important for a long-term biomonitoring of low-level lithium supplementation.

lithium ; nutritional status ; hair ; whole blood ; safety limits

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