Nitrate-Cured Meats Linked to Manic Episodes Meat sticks, jerky showed biggest association

https://www.medpagetoday.com/psychiatry/bipolardisorder/74073?xid=nl_mpt_morningbreak%202018-07-18&eun=g721819d0r&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MorningBreak_071818&utm_term=Morning%20Break%20-%20Active%20Users%20-%20180%20days In another analysis conducted by Yolken's group in the same paper, the team examined behavior and gene expression changes in the brains of rats exposed to nitrate-cured meats. Rats fed beef jerky cured with nitrates exhibited more hyperactive behaviors, which the authors called "reminiscent of human mania." These rats also showed changes in their intestinal microbiota, as well as changes in their brain pathways, similar to what is seen in humans with bipolar disorder. Specifically, there was significant dysregulation in serotonin receptor signaling, bacterial pattern recognition, NF kappa beta signaling, and sphingosine-1-phosphate signaling. These changes were not seen in the group of rats whose food did not contain any nitrates. The rats who were fed the beef jerky daily were given an amount scaled down to the equivalent of what a typical person would eat as a snack: "We tried to make sure the amount of nitrate used in the experiment was in the range of what people might reasonably be eating," noted Yolken.