Incorporated foods worsen the clinical picture of people with mental health problems

The World Health Organization (WHO) has long declared war on sausage products such as sausage, mortadella and sausage have been badociated with risks that has been shown for increase the development of some cancers, especially in the digestive tract.New research indicates that this type of delicacy, made from processed meats and cured with various chemicals, can worsen the symptoms of people with mental disorders. kins, MD, in the United States, was published in the journal Nature's Molecular Psychiatry.

"We do not try to scare anyone," says Robert Yolken, who led the study. He points out that the results do not refer to meat in kind or fish, but only those that, in the healing process, receive the addition of synthetic dry nitrate for preservation and seasoning purposes . Observational research, which does not study a cause-and-effect relationship, found that in a group of more than 1,000 people with and without a diagnosis of mental disorders, people hospitalized due to an episode of mania were three times more likely to use sausages.

Mania is a condition characterized by hyperactivity, euphoria, and insomnia, symptoms that last for weeks or months and are badociated with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In this state, the patient may be involved in risky behaviors and suffer from hallucinations; so he usually goes through several hospitalizations to stabilize himself. Yolken points out that genetic factors are among the triggers, but they alone can not explain the causes, suggesting the influence of environmental issues, such as diet.

Synthetic nitrates used in the food industry have been badociated with mental disorders. According to the researcher, studies on rats made by the Johns Hopkins team have shown that the added substance triggers hyperactivity and mania in animals in the weeks following use. Scientists have now studied whether in humans the consumption of sausages, which contain high amounts of these chemical compounds, also has to do with triggering altered mental states.

Yolken's initial interest was to examine whether exposure to infectious disease agents through food would be related to psychiatric conditions. Interestingly, in 1907, psychiatrist Adolf Meyer, of Johns Hopkins himself, had suggested that chronic infections could respond to psychiatric disorders, an idea still debated today and based on the theory that by acting directly on the brain, some pathogens trigger symptoms. mental health. Another hypothesis is that this role is played by the immune system itself which, instead of fighting only the virus / bacteria, begins to act in the brain tissue.

Yolken collects demographic, dietary and health data from 1,101 people. from 18 to 65 years, with or without psychiatric disorders. The evaluation of the information showed that among people hospitalized by mania, the habit of eating meat before hospitalization was three and a half times greater, compared with the group without disorders mentally. In people without a history of depression, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the ingestion of these products was unrelated to mania, suggesting that nitrates only affect patients with psychiatric disorders.

Intestinal flora

Tamashiro, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, we know today that the composition of the intestinal flora has a strong influence on the body as a whole, including the brain. "Mania has a complex neuropsychiatric state and genetic and environmental factors appear to be involved in the onset and severity of bipolar disorder and badociated manic episodes.Our findings suggest that salted meat with nitrate can be the only one of its kind. one of the environmental elements involved in mania, "he says.

Tamashiro points out that research further demonstrates the role of the interaction between certain foods and intestinal flora. review of 12 epidemiological studies examining the mental health diet badociation found a "consistent pattern of the relationship between good quality nutrition and better mental health and evidence to the contrary," according to the 39, article published in American Journal of Public Health Researchers at the University of Deakin in Australia also noted that the Western diet, rich in meat Red e, in sugar and saturated fats, has been linked to problems such as depression and hyperactivity.

Robert Yolken believes that studies can establish a cause and effect relationship between nitrates and mania in psychiatric patients can provide a therapeutic window. "Future work on this badociation could lead to dietary interventions to help reduce the risk of manic episodes in people with bipolar disorder or vulnerable mania for other reasons," he says.