Nitrates in Bacon?

(matt ) #22

Natural Sources of Nitrate

Cured meats aren’t the only source of sodium nitrates. In fact, less than 5 percent of your intake comes from cured meats, according to the American Meat Institute. The majority of the nitrates in your diet come from those naturally found in vegetables, which form sodium nitrate from nitrogen in the soil. Spinach, for example, has 741 milligrams of nitrates in a 3.5-ounce serving, while the same serving size of bacon has 5.5 milligrams. Other veggies high in the salt include mustard greens, coleslaw and broccoli. Mixed greens, tomatoes and vegetable soup are also a source of nitrates. Certain fruits, including bananas, applesauce and oranges, also contain small amounts.

(Ethan) #23

I don’t have as much issue. I don’t eat pork, so deli meat is turkey for me, which has many versions without sugar. I actually get it from a butcher, too.

(TJ Borden) #24

That’s why I’m trying to play it safe and stick to a carnivorous way of eating… we need a new term for it.

We don’t call vegans herbivores. There should be a special term to describe someone that only eats animal based products. On the other hand carnivore is a pretty cool word. Might be time for a new thread to discuss ideas.

(matt ) #25

They do go by Carnivore or Zero Carb (ZC). Anti-vegan maybe? LOL

(TJ Borden) #26

I was thinking more like a word/term to run with and become militant like vegans are. But the more I think about it, I don’t think carnivores would ever become as angry as vegans… probably because we’re eating steak.

I bet if vegans just had a nice medium rare ribeye every once in a while, they wouldn’t be as grumpy.

(Ethan) #27

The word vegan comes from (veg)etarian + an = vegan.

So… (meat)arian + an = meatan

(Ethan) #28

Or we could just make it me + an… mean lol

(Barry Sharp) #29

Most folk on here are still talking about nitrates whereas the original post was about nitrosamine. Just saying.

(William Shafer III) #30

Your right nitrates are being talked about, when the issue is nitrites and nitrosamine. Nitrates by themselves are naturally occurring and are not especially harmful, like most things in moderation. I personally have been fermenting vegetables for a few years now and decided I would salt cure my own beef, salami, and pork butt. Yeah, I know it’s not for everybody, but making your own bacon and preserving your own meat gives you the piece of mind of knowing exactly what is in it. And, as you dig more, almost every food has been linked to cancer at some point or another.

(Olivia) #31

Nitrates are NO3-salts that naturally occur in our ecosphere. They are a vital part of the N-cycle where they are assimilated by plants for growth. Hence, it’s a major component of fertilizers. If you use too much fertilizer, it get’s accumulated in the soil and in the plants’ stems, especially in stems of lettuce. That’s why there are high nitrate concentration in these vegetables.
One specific nitrate, sodium nitrate (NaNO3), is a substance, which is added to cure meat for food preservation.
Nitrates, in and of themselves, are not harmful. If they react to nitrite (NO2) or nitrosamine (N−N=O), it becomes two problematic substances. Nitrite is only harmful to small children, as you need a very high concentration for a negative impact on health. Usually the source for such harmful amounts comes from drinking water. The surplus of fertilizer in the soil is washed into surface and ground water. Nitrosamine, which is the reaction product when nitrates are ingested with milk and meat proteins, is a carcinogen. Nobody is debating this hazardous classification (GHS). Where and how it may formed in the body is an active area of research with multiple models to explain the reaction routes. There is a lot pointing towards an influence of the gut microbiome in this substance’ metabolism. One model suggests that phytonutrient found in vegetables can negate the harmful effects of these metabolites.
There was a great BBC documentary (I believe it was called “Should I Eat Meat?”) about meat, which aimed to dismantle popular opinions such as “don’t eat red meat”. They also delved into the nitrosamine discussion regarding processed meat.

(TJ Borden) #32

Oaky fine… back to the study.

It’s bull shit. Follow the links and you find yourself in a loop where articles are mostly just using each other for references when you finally do get to the “science” you find that it was a cohort study based on data provided by volunteers. No actual science took place to form their conclusions.

I tend to only eat uncurred bacon (aka pork belly) at home, but I’m also not going to pass on bacon at a restaurant because of nitrates.

Now can we talk a little about the new Meatan Political Action Comittee?

@EZB, I like the Meatan, but instead of the “an” at the end sounding like vegan, pronouncing it like the “an” in Settlers Of Catan… like an “awe” sound. Our flag could be a hoof and horn, like in animal farm, or just :bacon:

(Cece Blackstock) #33

:joy: :rofl:

(Adam Kirby) #34

Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the entire underpinning of the WHO report was a food frequency questionnaire, and that has been used to report the relative risk increase of cancer in “meat eaters”. And the relative risk number looks scary but represents a miniscule increase in overall risk. And no health conscious meat eating population has ever been tested. Am I wrong about any of this?

(Olivia) #35

This is wrong.
“The IARC Working Group considered more than 800 different studies on cancer in humans (some studies provided data on both types of meat; in total more than 700 epidemiological studies provided data on red meat and more than 400 epidemiological studies provided data on processed meat).”

(Adam Kirby) #36

I am quite skeptical of the weight of the science behind this article given the obvious whole grain and vegetable bias in it. I guess we’ll get some results in a couple decades as low carbers eat this way long term.

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #37

Meathead.

(bulkbiker) #38

And they referenced very few of the studies they “considered”.
Check out the Georgia Edes video I posted… it’s quite revealing

(Olivia) #39

My gut reaction is that there is a difference between a standard diet, which is high in processed meat, high in sugar, high in preservatives and very low in micronutrients vs. a diet low in sugar, high in micronutrients from real foods (green veggies, organ meats…), with some processed meat.
Maybe the impact of processed meat is more pronounced for people on a SAD compared to a person who is very thoughtful with what he/she is consuming.

(Patrick Belair) #40

meat-and-cancer-epidemiology-1-768x748.png768×748 313 KB

(Bunny) #41

Lol!