Comments please https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/01/bacon-cancer-processed-meats-nitrates-nitrites-sausages
Bacon and cancer
Shallimar
(Trish)
#3
Long but interesting article. So much these days is a calculated risk. One has to decide which risk they are willing to take. I don’t think there’s much any more that is absolutely risk free.
Jack_Brien
(Jack Brien)
#5
True, but understanding the risk is key and so much bs from every side makes it difficult.
Jack_Brien
(Jack Brien)
#6
I’ll delete this thread in a bit
-except I don’t seem able too and it has expanded a bit.
Capnbob
(Rob)
#7
Exactly - which risks are real and at what quantifiable levels… and THEN, how does that relate to each of us snowflakes… makes your head spin. 
Often it does but there are several for this one and most thought provoking (or trolling) articles so the system is clearly not that smart 
Shallimar
(Trish)
#8
I know. It’s soooo hard to know what to believe. You always have to look at who commissioned a study too. I think there probably are carcinogens in bacon nitrates but I’ll still eat it. I guess the hope is that with so many bad things these days that if we do enough positive stuff for our health that the scales will tip in our favour. ??? One can hope anyway.
Dan_Dan
(Dan Dan)
#9
Which of these sources will give you the most ingested nitrites:
467 servings of hotdogs
1 serving arugula
2 servings butterhead lettuce
4 servings celery or beets
your spit
"Nitrites are produced by your own body in greater amounts than can be obtained from food, and salivary nitrite accounts for 70-90% of our total nitrite exposure. In other words, your spit contains far more nitrites than anything you could ever eat.
When it comes to food, vegetables are the primary source of nitrites. On average, about 93% of nitrites we get from food come from vegetables. It may shock you to learn that one serving of arugula, two servings of butter lettuce, and four servings of celery or beets all have more nitrite than 467 hot dogs. (2) And your own saliva has more nitrites than all of them! So before you eliminate cured meats from your diet, you might want to address your celery intake. And try not to swallow so frequently."
"In general, the bulk of the science suggests that nitrates and nitrites are not problematic and may even be beneficial to health. Critical reviews of the original evidence suggesting that nitrates/nitrites are carcinogenic reveals that in the absence of co-administration of a carcinogenic nitrosamine precursor, there is no evidence for carcinogenesis. "
https://chriskresser.com/the-nitrate-and-nitrite-myth-another-reason-not-to-fear-bacon/
https://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-banning-hotdogs-and-bacon-make.html#jmp0
Jack_Brien
(Jack Brien)
#10
For me, the most important aspect of the article was the following excerpt.
*Nitro-chemicals have been less of a boon to consumers. In and of themselves, these chemicals are not carcinogenic. After all, nitrate is naturally present in many green vegetables, including celery and spinach, something that bacon manufacturers often jubilantly point out. As one British bacon-maker told me, “There’s nitrate in lettuce and no one is telling us not to eat that!”
But something different happens when nitrates are used in meat processing. When nitrates interact with certain components in red meat (haem iron, amines and amides), they form N-nitroso compounds, which cause cancer. The best known of these compounds is nitrosamine. This, as Guillaume Coudray explained to me in an email, is known to be “carcinogenic even at a very low dose”. Any time someone eats bacon, ham or other processed meat, their gut receives a dose of nitrosamines, which damage the cells in the lining of the bowel, and can lead to cancer.
Dan_Dan
(Dan Dan)
#11
Nina Teicholz explores the claims that eating red meat will lead to diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Presentation slides are available here to download in PDF format