Eating Cured Meats May Increase Risk for Mania

Although there is a significant genetic contribution to bipolar illness, environmental factors, including diet, are thought to be important. These researchers surveyed the dietary history (foods “ever eaten”) of a broad group of psychiatric patients receiving hospital or outpatient care (bipolar mania, 217 individuals; bipolar depression, 91; major depression, 79; schizophrenia, 371) and 343 healthy controls.

A history of eating nitrate-cured meat products specifically was associated with being in the mania group. A subgroup of 42 patients with mania and 35 controls were asked about the type of cured meat products eaten; meat sticks, beef jerky, and turkey jerky were specifically implicated.

In follow-up experimental studies of rats, a meat d…