nitrosamines | Health Topics | NutritionFacts.org

Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): John

Nitrosamines are one of the carcinogenic agents present in cigarette smoke. Nitrosamines are formed from nitrites (those good compounds that dilate blood vessels) in the absence of phytonutrients found in plant foods.

Nitrosamines are found in processed meats (smoked, canned, and preserved) and grilled meats. Just a few hot dogs may contain the carcinogenic nitrosamine load of a pack of cigarettes. In fact, just the smell of frying bacon even contains nitrosamines.

Vitamin C is one of the phytonutrients that can help prevent the body from converting nitrites to nitrosamines. This may be why the nitrites found in vegetables and other plant foods are not converted to carcinogenic nitrosamines.

For substantiation of any statements of fact from the peer-reviewed medical literature, please see the associated videos below.

15 videos

All Videos for Nitrosamines

How Our Gut Bacteria Can Use Eggs to Accelerate Cancer

How Our Gut Bacteria Can Use Eggs to Accelerate Cancer

The reason egg consumption is associated with elevated cancer risk may be the TMAO, considered the “smoking gun” of microbiome-disease interactions.

Resistant Starch and Colon Cancer

Resistant Starch and Colon Cancer

Fiber isn’t the only thing our good gut bacteria can eat. Starch can also act as a prebiotic.

Meat Industry Reaction to New Cancer Guidelines

Meat Industry Reaction to New Cancer Guidelines

What was the meat industry’s response to the recommendation by leading cancer charities to stop eating processed meats, such as bacon, ham, hot dogs, sausage, and lunchmeat?

Why is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?

Why Is Meat a Risk Factor for Diabetes?

Potential culprits include the trans fat in meat, the saturated fat, cholesterol, heme iron, advanced glycation end products (glycotoxins), animal protein (especially leucine), zoonotic viruses, and industrial pollutants that accumulate up the food chain.

Food as Medicine

Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet

Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition and developed this new presentation based on the latest in cutting edge research exploring the role diet may play in preventing, arresting, and even reversing some of our most feared causes of death and disability.

Can Diet Protect Against Kidney Cancer?

Can Diet Protect Against Kidney Cancer?

Plant-based diets appear to protect against renal cell carcinoma both directly and indirectly.

Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors and Allergies

Alkylphenol Endocrine Disruptors and Allergies

The dramatic rise of allergic diseases such as eczema and seasonal allergies may be related to dietary exposure to endocrine-disruptor xenoestrogens, such as alkylphenol industrial pollutants.

Bacon, Eggs, and Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy

Bacon, Eggs, and Gestational Diabetes During Pregnancy

Eating meat or eggs before pregnancy may increase the risk of gestational diabetes.

So Should We Drink Beet Juice or Not?

So Should We Drink Beet Juice, or Not?

In the context of a healthy, plant-based diet, the nitrates in vegetables can safely be converted into nitric oxide, which can boost athletic performance, and may help prevent heart disease.

Vitamin C-Enriched Bacon

Vitamin C-Enriched Bacon

The addition of vitamin C to processed (cured) meats such as bacon may actually make them more carcinogenic.

Carcinogens in the Smell of Frying Bacon

Frying bacon outdoors decreases the concentration of airborne nitrosamine carcinogens.

assorted cold cuts

Prevention Is Better Than Cured Meat

The levels of nitrosamines—considered the most carcinogenic agents in cigarette smoke—were recently measured in an array of processed meats including chicken, turkey, and pork.

Are Nitrates Pollutants or Nutrients?

Are Nitrates Pollutants or Nutrients?

Phytonutrients, such as vitamin C, prevent the formation of nitrosamines from nitrites—which explains why adding nitrite preservatives to processed meat can be harmful, but adding more vegetables, with their nitrite-forming nitrates, to our diet can be helpful.

Bacon and Botulism

Bacon & Botulism

The nitrite preservatives in processed meats such as bologna, bacon, ham, and hot dogs form carcinogenic nitrosamines, but also reduce the growth of botulism bacteria—forcing regulators to strike a balance between consumers risking cancer, or a deadly form of food poisoning.

When Nitrates Go Bad

When Nitrites Go Bad

Nitrites in processed meat form nitrosamines, a class of potent carcinogens found in cigarette smoke, which may explain why hot dog consumption has been associated with the two leading pediatric cancers, brain tumors and childhood leukemia.

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