Does Bacon have nitrates?

(Lucia) #1

Is it safe to eat bacon everyday?

(bulkbiker) #2

I guess my answer to both you’re questions would be yes and yes… but as with everything else you have to make your own decisions… and maybe do your own research about what you think any problems may be…

(Carl Keller) #3

If we eat vegetables and bacon every day, the overwhelming majority of our consumed nitrates will come from the vegetables (80% according to one study). If nitrates are so terrible for us, this is really bad news for vegans.

At the very least, we should see this as another reason to eat antioxidant rich foods so that our gut biome is healthy and eggs are one of these foods. Bacon and eggs… it’s just a marriage that was meant to be.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #4

I’ve eaten bacon every day for years. To me it is much healthier than some of the other junk that one could eat. I am not worried about the nitrates, though I believe you can buy nitrate-free bacon.

(David Knigge) #5

There is no hard science that proves nitrates cause cancer or heart disease. Epidemiology, or diet surveys, do not prove causation but rather a casual relationship. Furthermore, meta-analysis suggest a very small bump of maybe 15 to 20% Which is not significant. For instance we know that smoking cigarettes has a 15 to 20 fold increase in lung cancer which is an obvious indicator of causation. Also if society tells everyone nitrates and red meat are bad for you and some continue to eat these things, there will be a subset of individuals who also drink and drive without wearing their seatbelts, etc. This alone can skew such results. Also there are vegetables that are high in nitrates such as celery. I don’t recall seeing any headlines about the dangers of celery. In fact some manufacturers have gotten savvy and add celery extract so that the food labels don’t say added nitrates.

(Karen) #6

This is true I eat natural bacon which is cured with Sea salt and celery. Oh how organic and natural. And yet chockablock with nitrates. Meh

#7

I don’t think bacon itself does, but the curing process will add some, whether it be the artificial sodium nitrate, or nitrates from celery salt/powder (including “nitrate free” bacon typically). “Uncured” typically means not cured with Sodium Nitate, most of it is still cured other ways. I eat the crap out of bacon, I haven’t seen any real proof there’s a health risk with doing so. Even if it IS a little bad, where miles ahead of the carbage that we’re (supposed) to eat!

(Bunny) #8

Why I like to focus my awareness on keeping my glutathione[1] levels normal and in que (in check)?

Tank gawd for bone broth and organic sulfur and other foods…:hugs:

Footnotes:

[1] Biochemical Studies On The Effect Of Sodium Nitrite And/Or Glutathione Treatment On Male Rats “…Conclusion: Due to the hazardous effect of food additives as sodium nitrite, it is recommended that the use of sodium nitrite as food additives must be limited and gluathione has the ability to prevent its toxic effect. …” …More

[2] “…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. …” …More

[3] “…A balance of nitrate levels is maintained by this system.” Dr. MacDonald: “Nitrates are used primarily in the curing of meats to maintain the color of red meats and to block the growth of the deadly bacteria Clostridium botulinum that can thrive in oxygen-deprived environments such as occur in cured meats.” …” …More

Nitrites in meat products cause cancer
(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #9

According to Dr. Phinney, a major advantage of being in ketosis is that β-hydroxybutyrate acts as a hormone to regulate the genes that control the body’s built-in antioxidant mechanisms. Apparently, insulin turns on genes that suppress these mechanisms, making exogenous antioxidants necessary, whereas β-hydroxybutyrate turns these genes off again, thus reactivating the mechanisms. This is apparently the reason that Stefansson and Andersen never got scurvy, as expected by the researchers, during their famous experiment 90 years ago.

(Doug) #10

This is a great point, Carl, and one that seems to be often overlooked by those with an anti-meat bias, especially those who are anti-processed meat.

Great video here from Dr. Georgia Ede:

(Carl Keller) #11

So if we eat garbage and red meat, red meat gets the blame. It’s the same story with fat and salt. I don’t get how these (vegan?) scientists can publish the biased stuff they do?

Good video Doug.

(Doug) #12

With pay-to-publish being a big thing now, with studies being financed by entities that clearly have an agenda, with articles and blogs done by people making loose associations and questionable connections, it’s just a minefield ‘out there’ now. Honestly, I just feel like throwing up my hands sometimes…

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #13

The nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health was established with, and was for many years supported by, money from the sugar industry. Back in the day, it was believed that this kind of partnership between industry and academia was just what the United States needed. But a lot of those researchers were well-paid by the industry to bad-mouth saturated fat in order to divert attention from the bad effects of sugar. (Not that they needed persuading, but the money certainly didn’t help their objectivity.) And several of those researchers ended up in positions of authority at the USDA, the FDA, and the NIH.

As Upton Sinclair wrote: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

(Carl Keller) #14

I totally get that but what happened to men of principle? The health and lives of others depend on what these scientists say. How do they live with themselves?

God grant that men of principle be our principal men. Thomas Jefferson

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #15

Well, money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can certainly make un-happiness a lot easier to bear!

(Running from stupidity) #16

Very VERY well…

(Lucia) #17

Thanks everyone for the information. Appreciate it.