processed meat can trigger the manic phase

Analysis of a cohort of more than 1,000 people showed that nitrates – chemicals used to preserve deli meats such as dried beef, salami, hot dogs and other processed meat snacks – can help trigger mania, an abnormal mood state badociated with bipolar disorder. Mania is characterized by hyperactivity, euphoria and insomnia.

The results were published July 18 in Molecular Psychiatry . Specifically, the researchers found that those hospitalized for an episode of mania were three times more likely to have ever eaten nitrate meat than those without a history of serious psychiatric disorders.

Interventions

Experiments conducted in rats by the same researchers showed manic hyperactivity after only a few weeks of nitrate-enriched diet. "Future work on this badociation could lead to dietary interventions to help reduce the risk of manic episodes in those with bipolar disorder or who are otherwise vulnerable to mania," says lead author Robert Yolken, professor of pediatric neurovirology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Mania, which can last for weeks or even months, is usually seen in people with bipolar disorder, but can also occur in people with schizoaffective disorder. Manic states can lead to dangerous behaviors and hospitalizations

3.5 times higher

Between 2007 and 2017, Robert Yolken and his colleagues collected demographic, health and dietary data from 1,101 at age 65, with and without psychiatric disorders (those suffering from psychiatric problems were recruited in a specialized hospital department). Among people hospitalized for mania, the history of pre-hospitalized meat consumption was about 3.5 times higher than in the group of people without psychiatric disorders. However, the researchers were unable to draw conclusions about the exact amount of dried meat that increases the risk of mania.

Nitrates are used as preservatives in processed meat products, and were recently badociated to some cancers and neurodegenerative diseases

7% of the population

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder (formerly known as manic-depressive psychosis). It is characterized by an abnormal change in mood: alternating periods of excitement (mania or hypomania) and depression, or deep melancholy, interspersed with periods of stability. The term "bipolar" refers to the two poles mania and depression, between which the mood oscillates.

The clbadic bipolar disorder affects approximately from 0.4% to 1.6% of the adult population in France in all social categories about 600,000 people. By including types II or III, significantly higher numbers, up to 7% of the population, can be obtained by including the entire bipolar "spectrum", ie all related disorders.

According to figures from Public Health France, 163 to 190 women per 100,000 had bipolar disorders between 2010 and 2014, compared to 104 to 120 men per 100,000. "In total, between 2010 and 2014, 80,000 people, on average, have been treated annually in metropolitan France for bipolar disorder, and 300,000 people for depressive disorders.Stable rates have been observed for the management of depressive disorders while an increase has been noted for that disorders bipolar, "say the authors of the report.