The bottom line about Nitrate is that it is a dangerous additive in meat that can cause various types of cancer. People in the meat industry often say "Well there is nitrate in vegetables it's good for ya!"
That is the half truth. Yes Nitrate is naturally occurring in green vegetables, however the amount is so small that you would have to eat mountains of vegetables to get the same amount of nitrate young can get from eating few ounces of cured meat products.
People consume lots of cured meat without realizing the "Amount" of nitrate they consume.
So that is the difference.
Most everything in nature can be harmful if consumed too much. We defiantly eat too much meat and the meat industry is irresponsible, out of control and gives a "shi*" about the consumer. They would tell you the sky is green just to sell you more hot dogs!
Of course it is your prerogative to eat yourself to death but at least get the fact and Please don't indoctrinate children in to the same lies and doomed health conditions. I spend half of my life believing all the lies about how good meat is for you and milk and cheese. Only to finds out after stopping to eat those various products, that all my intestinal problems went away almost immediate.
Yes... they WENT AWAY! My whole life I suffered from indigestion, pain, constipation and bloating and skin problems. I was tested for all kinds of allergens at the Mayo Clinic In Mainz Germany nothing was found. Nobody not even doctors ever could help.
When I kept a food diary for trying to figure out if any food causes my problems, Meat and Milk Products never even were considered as a cause. One time when I was pretty sick I was tested for all kinds of illnesses, I got treaded for this and that and only got worse, Eventually almost by accident month in to my illness, the doctor tested for parasitic diseases, and I was diagnosed with Toxoplasmosis that I got from eating meat. At that point I was very sick, weak and could barely function and keep my eyes open. The disease made me terribly tired. I got treaded with drugs similar to what is used to treat malaria patients. Actually then I stopped eating meat for a while but as it goes, returned to the nasty habit because of peer pressure.
How many of our ailments and diseases are caused my poor diet, meat and milk products consumption. Doctors get very little education on diet and health, and even if they are reluctant to tell anyone what and how much to eat. Well doctors can't hardly tell anyone that they should lose some weight for fear of being sued just for pointing out someone is fat or sorry "Obese" is the political correct word. So Doctors aren't going to pint out just how bad it is that we gobble down all that meat, cheese and milk. No milk is supposed to be good for us. It's NOT TRUE...Neither is meat and especially cured meat.
How much are we lied to, for the sake of protecting this huge meat and milk industry? At least be honest with the people, I say, it's all about profit. Don't tell them that stuff is good for them, because it's not!
I have been cured of life long stomach and digestive problems as well as skin itching soon after I stopped consuming all that stuff at the age of 50, why did I not try if sooner? I was indoctrinated in to believing you can't go without eating meat and cheese and milk. Societal peer pressure. look how main stream media treads vegans, almost all reporting is always geared to make us look like freaks, or radicals. We are people like you and maybe everyone can learn something from us.
Gosh Hated milk when I was a kid and I was "Forced" to drink it, it made me gag even then and that should have been enough.. I grew up in the country in Germany and France. They laugh you out of the room if you don't eat meat. Come to think of it, meat eaters are really very intolerant and like to hate on vegans or vegetarians. Maybe they're afraid the truth will come out. Well some day it will. There will be a great eye opening and millions of people will ask why weren't' we told? Well honey the meat and pharma industries would stop masking huge profits. First they make you sick then they push their pills on you. That is how it works. I cured myself, without the help of any doctor, no medications just not eating meat , meat products, milk, cheese and even yogurt.
I am healthier and happier now. I recommend going vegan. It's never to late to start.
By Stephen Daniells, 18-Apr-2007
Related topics: Science & Nutrition, Preservatives and acidulants
Days after English researchers proposed an equation to make the ultimate bacon buttie, a new study from the US has reported that frequent consumption of cured meats like bacon may increase the risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Consuming more than 14 or more cured meat products per month was associated with a 93 per cent increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), report the authors in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. The nitrite content of cured meat has been proposed to be behind the observations.
Nitrites are added to meat to retard rancidity, stabilise flavour, and establish the characteristic pink colour of cured meat. Studies and recommendations by health and governmental organisations ensure the safety of such products.
An independent expert has said the implications of the research may be on our understanding on what causes COPD beyond cigarette smoke.
COPD mainly affects smokers, and is the number four cause of death worldwide. It is characterised by chronic inflammation in the small airways of the lung and leads to excessive mucus production, excessive fibrous connective tissue development (fibrosis), and degradation of proteins (proteolysis). There is no cure.
Yet a reported 10 per cent of people who die from COPD are said to have never smoked in their lives, a statistic that suggests that other factors beyond smoking may play a role in the development of the disease.
The researchers, from Columbia University Medical Center in New York, used data from the third National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey (NHANES) on 7,352 subjects (52 per cent female) over the age of 45, for which adequate information was available on lung function and dietary habits. The subject group was representative of the US population of that age. continueNo risk from nitrates in vegetables, says EFSA
By Staff Reporter, 06-Jun-2008
The European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Contaminants Panel (CONTAM) has found that the beneficial effects of eating vegetables and fruit outweigh potential risk to human health from exposure to nitrate through vegetables.
The Panel said that the average consumer eating approximately 400g of mixed vegetables and fruit per day would not exceed the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for nitrate.
Higher levels of nitrate tend to be found in leaves whereas lower levels occur in seeds or tubers. Thus leaf crops such as lettuce and spinach generally have higher nitrate concentrations.
Rucola
The Panel noted that consumers eating more than 47 grams of rucola per day might already exceed the ADI without taking into account any other sources of nitrate exposure.
However, EFSA said that consumption of rucola at this level on a daily basis is not likely to occur over a long period of time and therefore considers that exceeding the ADI on occasion would not represent a health concern.
Balanced diet
"Consumers should continue to eat their five portions of vegetables and fruit per day as they are essential for good health and could help to reduce the risk of certain diseases," a spokesperson for EFSA told FoodProductionDaily.com
"The body of evidence in the report does not point to a cancer risk for the EU population in regard to nitrate concentrations in vegetables," he added.
Nitrate per se is relatively non-toxic, but its metabolites and reaction products such as nitrite, nitric oxide and N-nitroso compounds, have raised concern because of implications for adverse health effects such as methaemoglobinaemia and carcinogenesis, according to EFSA. continueNitrate and nitrite quantification from cured meat and vegetables and their estimated dietary intake in AustraliansJames Hsu
a, Jayashree Arcot
,
a,
and N. Alice Lee
aaFood Science and Technology, School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
High dietary nitrate and nitrite intake may increase the risk of gastro-intestinal cancers due to the in vivo formation of carcinogenic chemicals known as N-nitroso compounds. Water and leafy vegetables are natural sources of dietary nitrate, whereas cured meats are the major sources of dietary nitrite. This paper describes a simple and fast analytical method for determining nitrate and nitrite contents in vegetables and meat, using reversed-phase HPLC-UV. The linearity R2 value was >0.998 for the anions. The limits of quantification for nitrite and nitrate were 5.0 and 2.5 mg/kg, respectively. This method is applicable for both leafy vegetable and meat samples. A range of vegetables was tested, which contained <23>
