Sodium Nitrite: Another Reason to Avoid Processed Meats
It’s lurking in breakfast meats, lunchboxes and carving stations across the country. Sodium nitrite, that is: preservative and coloring additive extraordinaire. It’s undeniable that we have a penchant for processed foods in this country, and meats are no exception. Bacon, sausages, hot dogs, cold cuts, ham, packaged smoked meats, pates, Slim Jims (everybody’s favorite, right?) – meats many would consider part and parcel of the quintessential American diet. Many of us crave their delectable saltiness and welcome convenience, but are we paying a price for their processing, specifically when sodium nitrite is on the label?
It’s true that companies are increasingly introducing “sodium nitrate-free” products. (We’ve even seen nitrate-free, grass-fed, organic hot dogs out there. Interesting development.) And while we at MDA tend to think “the more natural and unadulterated the meat the better,” some processing techniques and ingredients raise more red flags than others, sodium nitrite being one of those.
So, what exactly is sodium nitrite, and what are its alleged crimes? As mentioned, it’s used in commercial meats as both a color “fixer” and a general preservative. The additive does everything from impeding the formation of botulism to keeping meat smelling and looking “fresh.” The USDA has imposed limits on the amount of sodium nitrite that can be used for processing purposes. Nitrites/Nitrates cannot exceed 200 ppm (parts per million). A “fatal dose” of sodium nitrite has been estimated at “22 to 23 milligrams per kilogram of body weight.” Although this is a hefty dose unreasonable for regular consumption, there’s concern about much smaller amounts of the preservative in infants and younger children because sodium nitrite impacts the how well hemoglobin transports oxygen in the body.
Nitrites, we should say, are related to but not the same as nitrates (PDF), which are present in many vegetables. When we eat nitrates, a small percentage of the nitrates is converted by the body into nitrites. A higher pH level in gastric juices results in more conversion of nitrates to nitrites. (Random note: Infants generally have a higher pH level in their digestive environment, which explains the guideline about limiting their intake of carrots.) Although vegetables constitute a fair amount our nitrite intake (after conversion), vegetables contain antioxidants that reduce the formation of nitrosamines, the real risk of nitrites.
What about those nitrosamines? When meat containing nitrites is heated (particularly at high temperatures), the result is nitrosamines, compounds that have been linked with health issues such as gastric cancer, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Additionally, this week the Archives of Internal Medicine published the results of a study that assessed the connection between types of meat consumption with mortality rate. Although the study leaves open many other avenues for explanation (more processed meat intake trends with lower produce consumption), the research offers one more suggestion against regular intake of conventional processed meat. (Check back tomorrow for a full critique of the latest red meat scare.)
While it’s true the studies/reviews vary in rigor, magnitude and date, the preponderance of research on the subject (including and beyond these studies) suggests that sodium nitrite is best avoided. Of course, we’re not suggesting anyone devote a significant part of their diet to cold cuts or other processed meats, but we’ll admit we loves ourselves some bacon. Easy rule of thumb: go nitrite-free. (And especially because these kinds of meats tend to be higher in fat – primary storage for toxins, we’d also recommend going organic or as close as possible to it.)
There will be times, however, when you aren’t in charge of the menu. If you find yourself at a family brunch emotionally obligated to partake of Aunt Betty’s bacon quiche or an Easter ham, rest assured you can mitigate the damage. Antioxidants, particularly vitamins C and E, inhibit the conversion of sodium nitrate into those nasty nitrosamines. Bacon, for example, generally includes ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or erythorbic acid for this purpose. And while the orange slice garnish on the brunch plate may get you in the right mindset, you’ll need more antioxidant power than that to do the job. Save yourself the sugar shock of a towering glass of O.J. and pop a good supplement before or with brunch instead. Bottoms up!
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the sodium nitrite question. Send ‘em on, and thanks for reading.
Further Reading:
Did Grok Really Eat That Much Meat?
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Posted By: Worker Bee
I am glad you brought up the difference between nitrates in processed meats and nitrates in vegetables. That is always something that has boggled me. I even considered the possibility that nitrates aren’t quite as bad for us as is pushed.
The SoG
good information. glad to have it cleared up as to the new trend of “nitrite-free” meats…. particularly for my love of bacon
I’m still not sure I buy it. I mean yes, cutting down on processed foods is good and all, but people have been curing meat for a long time…
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-banning-hotdogs-and-bacon-make.html
This is a great article!
I’m posting in response to the Comment and article posted by “Mike” [http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm]:
For starters, the author of that article is using “Nitrite” and “Nitrate” interchangeably. These two compounds should not be confused… Now onto her lack of facts!
She IS correct that, nitrAte, is a naturally occurring compound in Vegetables… But she missed the fact that those same Vegetables also contain high levels of Vitamin C and or Vitamin E, powerful anti-oxidants. These anti-oxidants prevent the formation of Nitrosamines, which require oxygen and heat as the catalysts (Get it… Anti-OXIDANT!)
It is the Nitrosamines that are the cancer-causing agents, not nitrAtes, per se.
The issue here is not with Vegetables, it is with Meat… Meat — Obviously — has no Vitamin C or E and therefor has nothing to prevent the oxidization of the Nitrite or Nitrate.
Further compounding this problem is the fact that these meats and therefor these chemicals are heated to high temperatures — also unlike Vegetables… — which is the final catalyst needed for the creation of Nitrosamines.
The author cannot see the forest from the trees, I’m afraid. She is also using the same backwards-logic that the FDA uses to justify the use of these compounds… Sure, Tobacco doesn’t cause cancer, but put a flame to it and the smoke sure as heck will!
– michealPW.
I did read that in her article. That the heating of the meat form the nitrosamines. But thanks for further information. Makes sense.
Why do they allow any of these things in our foods at all??
The FDA is so messed up!
Great job putting the spotlight on this nasty ingredient. It’s amazing how hard it is (at least around here – Quebec City) to find nitrite free products. The only option is to go the artisanal route – which is great anyway because of the freshness and high quality of the meat.
Cheers,
Adam
Once upon a time I was all worried about this but I don’t let it bother me any more. Good looking, great tasting and well preserved food is wonderful thing.
I was going to find and post the same article Mike did. I’m not convinced they’re bad for you either. Besides all bacon is cured. They just do it by another form, celery salt or something which has the exact same results.
I agree completely. It amazes me how some of these products even get passed in the first place. The good thing is though my regular grocery store does sell “nitrite free” products and “grass fed” products. Keep in mind this is a regular grocery store not a whole foods. So we are getting better slowly at making info like this known!
Great post Mark.
Not too long ago I read this
“http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-banning-hotdogs-and-bacon-make.html”
She writes some very good articles, but I’ve heard rumors that she receives some funding…..can’t seem to confirm this.
I handle my intake as follows;
as much as I love salami it is basically a processed food. so I try and limit my intake.
Marc
Mike, Joe, Marc (and the rest of you) – thanks for the comments and the junkfoodscience link. Pretty interesting article. I’d be interested to know if she receives funding, Marc, as you suggest. Our Worker Bee post, I think, does a pretty good job of offering up the topic for discussion without being too heavy-handed either way. (Notably, we noted the protective benefit of antioxidants that can effectively mitigate any damage in some cases.) This dialogue is exactly what I love about MDA and my readers.
Taken from bottom of her website pages:
“…Junkfood Science is not affiliated with any organization…”
A couple ways to eat foods normally sold with sodium nitrite:
1. Trader Joes has nitrite free bacon for a reasonable price.
2. On Saint Patrick’s day, make your own corned beef from a brisket. I did it this year http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Homemade-Irish-Corned-Beef-and-Vegetables-241623 letting it “corn” about 5 days and not using the Insta-cure ingredient that gives the corned beef its red color and has the nitrite. Delicious and I could feel good about eating this beef since it came from a steer raised by a friend on his 20 acre pasture. Normally the butcher grinds the brisket into hamburg. I asked then to save it for me this year to use for corned beef.
“Nitrite-free” processed meats contain beet or celery juice, which are nitrate-rich. Nitrates are converted to nitrites in the saliva. Nitrites are vasodilators and hot dogs are veritable health foods, also containing animal protein, animal fat, and powdered garlic and other herbs.
Mark–notwithstanding your usual brilliance–I’m tempted to call this particular post “baloney!”.
This is timely….as we were just talking on our site about “nitrate” free labels for bacon and how they are really full of natural nitrates from celery juice as mentioned above. Was news to me…and not sure I know much about the “natural” nitrates from celery juice. Will have to research it some more, but the label on the TJs bacon is surely misleading, as it is not nitrate free. Worst case….just need to pop some Vit C tablets with my bacon.
Thanks for the junkscience link. Very interesting article. Sandy Szwarc says she gets no funding. I will be watching these comments to see what those investigating the junkscience claims find out.
I know Dr Eades is not the least bit concerned by nitrites, also there was a study that beetroot juice reduces BP by forming nitrates in the mouth with saliva, the body tries to elimate these by opening the blood vessels, hence the increased blood flow & reduced BP, this being the case bacon could actually be healthy. Personally i don’t like the idea too much though, my take is, now & then it’s fine, no need to over worry, but for the most part, fresh meat is better.
This is terrible. We’re killing ourselves! I’ve tweaked my diet to make it healthier but I’ve still got work to do. Thank you Mark!
From what I’ve read here and elsewhere, sodium nitrite is worth avoiding. Bacon is the only processed meat that tempts me. Sometimes I buy the Applegate Farms nitrite-free bacon, but the sugar is a problem for me (fructose intolerance). This product doesn’t have beet juice but it does have evaporated cane juice. It can’t be very much, since 45 of the 60 calories in a serving (2 slices) come from fat and 15 from protein–sugar registers 0 (which means less than .5 gram) on the nutrition label. Still, it’s enough to make my gut react badly if I have more than 2 slices. I find it hard to eat only 2 slices. So sometimes I’ll buy just two slices of “regular” bacon from the deli counter, for my watercress soup. The Applegate Farms stuff is really spendy, too. The hot dogs are good but I stopped buying them because they just don’t keep. Yes, sodium nitrite is useful…but do I really want something in my body with such a shelf life? It’s scary how long some foods go without spoiling. Hot dogs aren’t that tasty anyhow. But bacon IS!
“I’d be interested to know if she receives funding”
I love your blog and don’t want to snipe, but it seems to me that the most important point is whether she is right or wrong, not where she gets her money.
We all get our funding somewhere.
V.
So sausages are a no-no? Damn…
Should’ve seen it coming – something didn’t feel right with sausages…
Actually Yavor, most of the sausages I see in the grocery stores that are raw are free of nitrates. Just look at the ingredients, and if sodium nitrates are not there, you are good to go.
I have to also point out that if you look at the studies pointed out in this article stating that nitrates have been linked to cancer seem pretty inconclusive.
From the gastric cancer one:
“In conclusion, dietary modification by reducing salt and salted food intake, as well as by increasing intake of fruit and vitamin C, represents a practical strategy to prevent gastric cancer.”
No mention of nitrates in that conclusion.
From the colon cancer one:
“Of various sources of N-nitroso compounds, intake of smoked and salted fish was significantly (RR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.21-5.51) and intake of cured meat was non-significantly (RR = 1.84, 95% CI 0.98-3.47) associated with risk of colorectal cancer.”
Cured meat was non-significantly associated with it according to this.
The other studies are similarly inconclusive.
If these are the best studies you can find to show that nitrates cause cancer, I have to either say that you were lazy while writing this, or just plain wrong.
From the pancreatic cancer study linked in this article.
“Increasing intake of dietary nitrite from animal sources was associated with an elevated risk of pancreatic cancer among men and women (highest quartile odds ratios = 2.3, 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 5.1, for men and 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.6, 6.4, for women). In contrast, dietary nitrate intake showed an inverse association with risk among women and no association among men.”
So cured meats are linked to pancreatic cancer, but dietary nitrate intake showed no association among men and an inverse association with women? So wouldn’t it be a better conclusion that the people that are eating more cured meats probably aren’t eating clean diets that would be more likely to cause the pancreatic cancer than the nitrates themselves?
And as for the last study for COPD:
“The study shows that the odds of having COPD were 78% higher for people who ate cured meats 14 or more times per week than those who never eat cured meats.”
This seems to show a link between COPD and cured meats. BUT this is the next sentence.
“People who frequently ate cured meats tended not to eat a lot of fish, fruit, or vegetables. They also were more likely to use tobacco than other participants; smoking makes COPD more likely.”
Hmmmm, more likely to smoke and eat diets void of fruits and veggies…which do you really think causes the COPD? Is it the smoking and an all around bad diet, or is it the nitrates?
These studies are inconclusive at best, and showing that the link between nitrates and cancer is complete BS at worst.
This reply comes long after the post came out, but it’s interesting and worth nothing. When reading that article I wondered about this: causation v.s. correlation. It seems here that it’s a case of correlation. I had the feeling even before the article that people who eat bacon (or cured meats) probably lean towards unhealthy eating more often than not. I think the cigarettes is the “smoking barrel,” so to speak (no pun intended).
Mark,
Have you read:
Cardiovascular prevention by dietary nitrate and nitrite. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2009 May; 296(5):H1221-3. Epub 2009 Mar 20.
[Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2009]
Great job putting this article together, your very right on when it comes to processed meats. These facts have led more companies to rely on beef produces like my client, La Cense beef and their Grass Fed Beef approach.
I was curious about this a few months ago, and did some extensive internet searches, but did not find this junkfoodscience link. I’m a little suspicious of this article, since there is a study that she does not cite that shows that there are quite detectable levels of nitrosamines in cured meats, bacon being the worst. The levels were still one-tenth of what the levels were prior to 1980.
She also makes it sound like there is no valid study that nitrosamines cause cancer – when every other article I have read declares that they are widely recognized as carcinogenic. Nitrosamines were first recognized as carcinogenic when nitrite was added to animal feed containing fish, which readily converts to nitrosamine, and the animals that received this feed had high cancer mortality.
I wish I had saved the links somewhere.
Anyway, I would think it prudent to limit the amount of bacon consumed. Also, it seems that most of the nitrosamines form in the fat, so do not cook in bacon fat!
Today I bought fresh meats from a local farm.
They had homemade sausages, pepperoni, bacon, kelbassa..
After I got home and read this I called and asked about nitrate. Sure enough all their products have nitrate.
So should I just not eat them?
Depends – do the local farms follow the rules for how much sodium nitrite to add, and to also add vitamin C to prevent formation of nitrosamines? Just don’t cook at high heat, and don’t use the fat for frying to prevent nitrosamines from forming. Enjoy.
Hi Mark,
Just received my copy of your new cookbook and I see that a number of the recipes include sausages e.g. your sausage stew. I am wondering how this fits in with your dislike of processed meats such as sausages?
By the way, your cookbook is amazing. The photos are incredible and my mouth waters just looking at the recipes. Great job!
Mark,
Celery juice/salt, which is the main preservative in “nitrate free” meats, actually leads to more nitrates in the meat when it is cooked and eaten. So, “nitrate free” meats have more nitrate than normal meats that are treated with nitrate. This is important to understand. Don’t buy nitrate free bacon! See the below nitrate test, done by Cook’s Illustrated:
Cook’s Illustrated paid for the test:
Nitrite has long been a controversial food additive, with studies showing it forms carcinogenic compounds called nitrosamines when heated in the presence of proteins, like those in bacon. Regular bacon is cured with nitrite (NO₂) or a virtually identical chemical, nitrate (NO₃), both of which act as preservatives, though only nitrite has the potential to form potentially harmful nitrosamines. Bacon labeled “nitrate- or nitrite-free,” on the other hand, is brined with salt, a bacterial lactic acid starter culture, and celery juice (sometimes listed as “natural flavor”).
But here’s the catch: Celery juice naturally contains a high level of organic nitrate, which is converted to the problematic nitrite by the bacteria in the starter culture and also by saliva during chewing. Despite this fact, it’s technically correct to label the bacon “no nitrates or nitrites added,” since the compounds are formed during production, not added as ingredients. The question is: How do the levels of nitrite and nitrate in uncured bacon compare with those in its cured counterpart?
When we fried up strips of our favorite supermarket bacon, Farmland Hickory Smoked, along with Farmland All-Natural Uncured Bacon (“no nitrate or nitrite added”), tasters found the samples virtually identical in taste and texture. To quantify the nitrite and nitrate levels in these bacons, we sent three packages of each type to a lab for testing. For comparison, we also sent three packages of the Best Buy from our tasting of artisanal bacon, Applegate Farms Uncured Sunday Bacon (labeled “no nitrites added”). As we expected, all of the bacons contained nitrite and nitrate, and the nitrite levels were well within U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines of no more than 120 parts per million (ppm). But to our surprise, the uncured bacons actually had higher levels of nitrite than the cured meat: Farmland Hickory Smoked Bacon registered an average of 9.7 ppm nitrite (and 48 ppm nitrate), while its All-Natural counterpart showed an average of 16.3 ppm nitrite (and 10.3 ppm nitrate). And the Applegate Farms Uncured Sunday Bacon averaged more than three times the level of the regular bacon: 35 ppm nitrite (and nearly as much nitrate, at 44.3 ppm).
The bottom line: All bacon is likely to contain nitrite and nitrate, whether added at the outset or formed naturally during processing. If you want to avoid these compounds, you’ll have to avoid bacon—and any other processed meats containing celery juice—altogether.
Ashley – thanks for adding this information. I have read that the formation of nitrite from nitrate by saliva may not be an issue, as there is evidence that nitrosamines do not form in the stomach. For those who can’t give up their bacon, fry it at low temperatures, don’t reuse the fat, and make sure you eat fresh foods high in vitamin C with the meal. Taking a vitamin C pill is risky – the pills can lose their potency very quickly, especially in a humid environment.
Looking through all the entries, I come up with these factors:
1. All vegetables contain nitrates.
2. Nitrates can convert to nitrites by our saliva.
3. Nitrites, when heated to a high temperature with protein can convert to nitrosamine a known carcinogen.
4. Cooks Illustrated paid for studies to show that the level of celery juice cured meat has higher levels of nitrites than the conventionally cured meats.
I don’t know why Cooks Illustrated did not go do the most important test. “What was the level of nitrosamine in each type of bacon after being heated to a high temperature?” We know that celery juice has more nitrite than the conventional brand, but it also is a complete food, full of antioxidants and vitamin C that may render the carcinogenic substances inert. The scientific community can’t even begin to accurately measure the amount of elements and trace factors in a whole food.
If all vegetables contain a high level of nitrate which can convert into nitrite when mixed with saliva and most people cook and eat meat with their meals, why are there no studies of people getting cancer just eating cooked meat and vegetables? If you ask me, I’d rather have a whole food any day. Nature places into whole natural foods everything that is needed to digest and assimilate it safely
“We know that celery juice has more nitrite than the conventional brand, but it also is a complete food, full of antioxidants and vitamin C that may render the carcinogenic substances inert.”
Actually, you’re making a big assumption here that is most likely false. The “celery juice” used in most meat curing is typically reconstituted from celery juice powder that has been processed to a standardized level of nitrates (so they can get a consistent product and required level of food safety). It is *not* a complete food, and there is no guarantee that it has any antioxidants or vitamin C remaining in it (although, FDA requires that most processed meat have small amounts of ascorbic acid added).
The reason all people aren’t getting cancer from their meat and veggies is because high heat is required for the worst conversions (one study I saw mentioned 600 degrees F), and the whole “nitrites/nitrates cause cancer!” scare is significantly overblown. Should we go crazy and gorge on nitrites/nitrates? No. Should we be scared of them and never eat anything containing them? No.
Should we eat them in moderate quantities, as with everything else we eat? Yes.
The strange thing is that beetroot for instance is high in natural nitrates, when mixed with saliva it forms nitrites, the body expels these nitrites as quickly as possible by opening blood vessels which in turn reduces blood pressure, so recent tests have confirmed that beetroot juice (or nitrate supplements) are an effective treatment for high BP. From what i understand it is when the nitrates/nitrites mix with proteins (amino acids) & form nitrosamines (nitros + aminos) that you may have a problem such as when added to bacon. Eating veg alone will not do this as there are no proteins (and the natural vitamins, nutrients and anti-oxidants protect against nitrosamine formation), but there is a theory that beetroot/celery/spinich etc (high in nitrates) should not be mixed with meat, so maybe it is better to have the salmon without the side serving of spinach ..
Salmon has protein too though, and it’s not like it’s not a complete protein, so is it protein in general in combination with spinach that should be avoided and you made a mistake in saying salmon was ok to combine? or is there something specifically about red meat that means it shouldn’t be combined?