Sausages, processed meats and sausages can cause manic episodes

An analysis of over a thousand people, with and without psychiatric disorders showed that the nitrates chemicals used to cure dried meat, salami sausages and other similar products of processed meat may contribute to manic

syndrome characterized by hyperactivity, euphoria and insomnia.

The results of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine study (United States), published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, revealed that people hospitalized for a manic episode from 19459003 had more than three times chances of having eaten processed meats with nitrates than people without a history of serious psychiatric disorder.

Experiments on rats made by the same researchers showed a hyperactivity similar to mania after a few weeks with diets with nitrates added. Based on these data, the researchers claim that their new study adds to the evidence that some diets and quantities and types of bacteria in the intestine may contribute to mania and other disorders that affect the body. brain.

Between 2007 and 2017, neurobiology professor Robert Yolken and his colleagues collected demographic, health and dietary data from over a thousand people aged 18 to 65, with or without psychiatric disorders. The study of these records showed that among people who were hospitalized by mania those who ate cured meat prior to hospitalization posed a risk. , 5 times higher than the group of people

Charcuteries were not associated with a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder in outpatients for mania or major depressive disorder. and salted meat was really demarcated, it was not only that people with mania had an abnormal diet, "says Yolken. nitrates have long been used as preservatives in meat products

and have already been associated with certain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Yolken therefore thought that they could also explain the connection with states of mind such as mania .

To deepen the possible association between the nitrates and the Maniac syndrome Yolken collaborated with researchers who studied the 39 impact of these substances in rats. To do this, they divided the healthy rats into two groups: one received normal foods for the rats and the other, in addition, a piece of dried meat prepared with nitrate . , the rats that received the bait showed irregular patterns of sleep and hyperactivity. When the group analyzed intestinal bacteria from different groups of rats, they found that animals with nitrates in their diet had different bacterial profiles than other rats. In addition, the animals showed differences in several molecular pathways in the brain that have already been implicated in bipolar disorder.

Although the team also warns that it is too early to extrapolate a clinical message of the results, and acknowledges that it is "unlikely" that the occasional consumption of cured of Meat causes a manic episode in the majority of the population, Yolken points out that the findings add to the evidence of multiple contributing factors to the manic syndrome and bipolar disorder.

FM