Is there any reason we can’t quickly test the lithium hypothesis by buying a bunch of random food and paying a lab to grind it up and figure out how much lithium is in it (use a mass spec?)? I assume this would cost thousands of dollars, but that’s pretty cheap.
As far as I can tell, SMTM’s lithium obesity hypothesis is mostly about groundwater contamination. So testing random food for lithium wouldn’t help; testing random people for lithium might (?), but that sounds much more expensive.
Fort Collins, CO gets water almost exclusively from rivers starting nearby and still has an 18% obesity rate (and Boulder is similar but has 12%). Both of those are “low” compared to other places, but still way above the historical level.
(I admit that I’m less interested in the water hypothesis since I live in Fort Collins so that part is already solved for me)
Is there any reason we can’t quickly test the lithium hypothesis by buying a bunch of random food and paying a lab to grind it up and figure out how much lithium is in it (use a mass spec?)? I assume this would cost thousands of dollars, but that’s pretty cheap.
As far as I can tell, SMTM’s lithium obesity hypothesis is mostly about groundwater contamination. So testing random food for lithium wouldn’t help; testing random people for lithium might (?), but that sounds much more expensive.
I thought it was a mix:
Lithium from drinking water
Lithium concentrated in certain foods (see Wolfberry section in https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/10/11/a-chemical-hunger-interlude-g-li/ for example)
Fort Collins, CO gets water almost exclusively from rivers starting nearby and still has an 18% obesity rate (and Boulder is similar but has 12%). Both of those are “low” compared to other places, but still way above the historical level.
(I admit that I’m less interested in the water hypothesis since I live in Fort Collins so that part is already solved for me)