Podcast: Sweeteners and Mania Do Not Mix

PODCAST

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the metabolic effects of sweeteners such as high-fructose corn syrup found in candy, soda, and other empty-calorie foods. Those effects include obesity, insulin resistance, and systemic inflammation, all of which were seen in the sugar-fed rats in the below study. Chris Aiken, MD interviews the lead author.

Alten B, Yesiltepe M, Bayraktar E, et al. High-fructose corn syrup consumption in adolescent rats causes bipolar-like behavioural phenotype with hyperexcitability in hippocampal CA3-CA1 synapses. Br J Pharmacol, 2018;175:4450-4463.

For more on this topic, see High-fructose Corn Syrup Implicated in Mania.

Dr Aiken is Instructor in Clinical Psychiatry at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the Director of the Mood Treatment Center in Winston-Salem, NC. He is Editor in Chief of The Carlat Psychiatry Report and Bipolar Disorder Section Co-Editor for Psychiatric Times.