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Mania and nitrated meat products

Molecular Psychiatry volume 25, page 511 (2020)Cite this article

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Khambadkone et al. [1] reported that nitrated meat products are more commonly consumed by people who experience manic episodes than by normal controls and by people with other psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and major depression. This resulted after compensating for age, race, socioeconomic status, body mass index, and cigarette smoking. Nitrated meat products included meat sticks including jerky. The authors’ discussion focused on possible causation of mania by ingested nitrate.

Yet, this study showed association not causation. Manic episodes and intake of nitrated meats may have been caused together by something else. Causation may have occurred in the opposite direction, e.g., intake of nitrated meat may have been provoked by medications that treat manic episodes. Lithium salts are commonly prescribed to people with manic episodes, but only rarely to people with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders, or major depression. Lithium causes changes in taste [2] along with cravings for sweet and fatty food and unwanted weight gain [3]. Other medications commonly taken by people with manic episodes, but only rarely by people with other psychiatric conditions, include valproate, which frequently produces weight gain [4], and lamotrigine, which occasionally produces weight loss [4].

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References

  1. Khambadkone SG, Cordner ZA, Dickerson F, Severance EG, Prandovszky E, Pletnikov M, et al. Nitrated meat products are associated with mania in humans and altered behavior and brain gene expression in rats. Mol Psychiatry. 2018 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-018-0105-6 PMID 30022042.

  2. Terao T, Watanabe S, Hoaki N, Hoaki T. Strange taste and mild lithium intoxication. BMJ Case Rep. 2011. https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr.05.2011.4267

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  3. Zimmermann U, Rechlin T, Plaskacewicz GJ, Barocka A, Wildt L, Kashchka WP. Effect of naltrexone on weight gain and food craving induced by tricyclic antidepressants and lithium: an open study. Biol Psychiatry. 1997;41:747–9.

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  4. Grootens KP, Meijer A, Hartong EG, Doornbos B, Bakker PR, Al Hadithy A, et al. Weight changes associated with antiepileptic mood stabilizers in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2018;74:1485–9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL, 62702, USA

    Conrad M. Swartz

  2. Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, 97239, USA

    Conrad M. Swartz

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  1. Conrad M. Swartz
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Correspondence to Conrad M. Swartz.

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Swartz, C.M. Mania and nitrated meat products. Mol Psychiatry 25, 511 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-019-0389-1

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