But there are already other health risks associated with eating too much processed meat. As McInnis put it, “Eating a lot of foods with nitrates is not a good idea anyway, and this adds another piece of evidence to that.”
"Yolken and his colleagues “took the innovative approach of finding something in humans and testing it in the animal model,” said Melvin McInnis, an expert in bipolar disorder at the University of Michigan who was not involved in the study. “That brings credibility to the study in a way that would lead us to take these results as valid.”
Based on this study alone, Yolken said, it’s too early to say that people with bipolar disorder should avoid nitrates.
Either way, we need many more studies before we can conclusively prove that anything in beef jerky is sparking manic episodes. In the meantime, this research adds to the pile of evidence that there are strong connections between what we eat and how we feel."
Read the entire article with comments by Dr. McInnis on theatlantic.com website.