Are Some Psychiatric Disorders a pH Problem?
Sometimes our brains are on acidliterally. A main source of these temporary surges is the carbon dioxide that is constantly released as the brain breaks down sugar to generate energy, which subsequently turns into acid. Yet the chemistry in a healthy human brain tends to be relatively neutral, because standard processes including respirationwhich expels carbon dioxidehelp maintain the status quo. Any fleeting acidity spikes usually go unnoticed.
But a growing body of work has suggested that for some people, even slight changes in this balance may be linked with certain psychiatric conditions including panic disorders. New findings this month provide additional evidence that such links are realand suggest they may extend to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
There were earlier hints that this was the case: Post-mortem studies of dozens of human brains revealed lower pH (higher acidity levels) in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Multiple studies in the past few decades have found that when people with panic disorders are exposed to air with a higher-than-normal concentration of carbon dioxidewhich can combine with water in the body to form carbonic acidthey are more likely to experience panic attacks than healthy individuals are. Other research has revealed that the brains of people with panic disorders produce elevated levels of lactatean acidic source of fuel that is constantly produced and consumed in the energy-hungry brain.
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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-some-psychiatric-disorders-a-ph-problem/