Hot Dog Fan? Jerky Fan? Check This!

A Bite-Size Read for Your Health and Waistline

Listen…everyone likes a hot dog at the family barbeque and at the ballpark! In the off-season, maybe you’ve been enjoying some jerky or smoked meats. Either way, foods like these have gotten a bad rap. Admittedly, I’ve contributed. In my?other article on hot dogs , I mentioned nitrates and nitrites should be?avoided. Other times, I’ve talked about the benefits of them! It can be confusing, so let’s clear it all up.

First, a quick foundation of definitions.?Nitrates ?are chemical compounds containing both nitrogen and oxygen, while?nitrites ?are formed by the oxidation of ammonia and nitrobacter bacteria. In normal words, both happen naturally in the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates combine nitrogen and oxygen to be NO3, which plants need to grow. Nitrites combine nitrogen and oxygen to become NO2, which is what you’ll find in food preservatives.

Whether nitrates and nitrites are helpful or harmful comes down to two factors: the source (being either natural or man-made) and the nutrients they’re paired with (like proteins and certain minerals). When humans first discovered how to produce nitrates and nitrites synthetically is where we started to run into problems.

The first red flags around nitrates and nitrites came in the 1960s when food manufacturers used them to cure meats, like ham, bacon, and hot dogs. Studies at the time found that they may have been causing cancer in lab animals. Further research has found that the chemical compounds of nitrates and nitrites, when used in meats, some dairy products, and even a few beer types raise our risk of?certain cancers ?and increase the odds of chronic conditions including?heart disease ?and?type 2 diabetes .

Especially when paired with animal products (as the food companies were doing and problem factor two noted above) like in processed meats, nitrates and nitrites can turn into?nitrosamines , which may lead to improper cell growth in the digestive tract and become carcinogenic.?90% of the known varieties ?of nitrosamines have been shown to cause cancer in the brain, sinuses, esophagus, stomach, kidneys, bladder, liver, and lungs.

With these processed nitrates and nitrites, we also see cognitive behavioral challenges. One study showed that the nitrates found in beef jerky, salami, hot dogs, and other processed meat snacks?may contribute to mania ?in a person’s behavior: sleeplessness, hallucination, psychosis, grand delusions, and paranoia.

As if it couldn’t sound any worse, synthetic nitrates and nitrites are often?combined with minerals, like sodium ?to create sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite (read processed meat labels); both are?known to cause disease ?in humans. When we?cook these meats at high temperatures ?(think frying bacon) this increases the conversion of the sodium nitrates and nitrites into these more dangerous compounds. These nitrates and nitrites can even be?found in drinking water , where they are typically not naturally occurring. Unfortunately, this contamination comes from soil and water pollution, pesticides, and fossil fuels.

On the flip side of all of this! Research shows that nitrates and nitrites in plants (so, naturally occurring) seem to be good for us! The?1998 Nobel Prize for Medicine ?was awarded for figuring out that nitric oxide helps dilate arteries and blood vessels, which lowers blood pressure. Food such as green leafy vegetables and root vegetables are loaded with naturally occurring nitrates and nitrites that don’t harm us because the process of chewing and digestion turn them into nitric oxide.

What’s more, this nitric oxide helps balance it all out for us. Plants also tend to have antioxidants which inhibit the formation of harmful compounds when nitrates are combined with certain proteins. Other benefits of nitrates in plants may prevent?atherosclerosis ?or?erectile dysfunction ; thinking back to the blood pressure piece, anything connected to circulation is going to benefit here.

Phew! This is a lot. Here are key takeaways and action items.

1. We want to limit or avoid foods that are high in synthetic nitrates or nitrites: hot dogs, sausages, jerky, processed deli meats, smoked fish or poultry, or anything cured with a brine. Some cheese and beer can have nitrates and nitrites, too. Be aware of labels on processed meats that say?uncured; long story short, the nitrates in them are still dangerous when heated up!
2. Eat more foods that are high in the natural, beneficial nitrates and antioxidants: leafy greens, basil, cilantro, rhubarb, celery, radishes, green beans, broccoli, beets, strawberries, and mushrooms.
3. When it comes to your water, maybe test it if you live near runoff from a farm and invest in a high-quality water filter.
4. Remember: it all comes down to the two factors of (a) whether the nitrates and nitrites are naturally occurring or man-made and (b) what nutrients they are with.

Let me know what you think about all this below, and congrats on the mini chemistry lesson you got today!