Are nitrates harmful

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It all depends on their source.

Where are nitrates?

In any Nitrate and nitrite content of vegetables, fruits, grains, legumes, dairy products, meats and processed meats plants. And it doesn't matter whether fertilizers were used or not.

There are more nitrates in vegetables and herbs, less in fruits, berries and grains. But they are necessary: without them nothing will grow.

Nitrates can also be found in canned Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway, salted and smoked meats, and even drinking water.

Where are they from there?

Nitrogen from the atmosphere enters the soil. There, due to bacteria, it is converted into nitrates - salts of nitric acid - and is used by plants for protein synthesis. Also nitrates are included in fertilizers to stimulate growth.

From the soil, however, nitrates enter the water. Moreover, the more actively the soil is fertilized, the more nitrates in the water. Nitrate and nitrite in drinking-water. However, according to the data from Water-Related Diseases: WHO Metgeoglobinemia, cities with increased concentrations are almost never encountered due to the control of the water supply system. But for those living in rural areas, in the immediate vicinity of the cultivated land, the problem is urgent.

Nitrates are added to canned, salted, smoked meats, sausages, sausages and others to preserve odor and color, as well as to protect against botulinum toxin.

Nitrates are said to cause cancer. This is true?

In the human digestive system, some of the nitrates is converted to nitrites. They, in turn, can form Nitrate and nitrite in drinking-water nitrosamines - carcinogenic compounds. However, scientists do not have enough data to declare nitrates dangerous to humans.

Plus, it is not the amount of nitrates that is important, but their source. For example, eating vegetables and greens, which are the most abundant in nitrates, reduces the risk of cancer. But sausages, canned and salted meat, on the contrary, can provoke disease. Although there are often much less nitrates.

Perhaps antioxidants come to the rescue. Vitamins C and E from vegetables and fruits prevent Carcinogenicity of nitrate, nitrite, and cyanobacterial peptide toxins. the formation of dangerous nitrosamines and reduce the risk of cancer.

Can you get poisoned with nitrates?

I guess, yes. Nitrates can cause methemoglobinemia. When nitrates are converted to nitrites, they bind to hemoglobin and form the dangerous methemoglobin - molecules that cannot carry oxygen.

Normally, methemoglobin does not exceed 1%. At 10%, Nitrate and nitrite in drinking-water symptoms of poisoning appear, and at 70% death occurs. But for the level of methemoglobin to begin to rise, a person must receive more than 10 grams of nitrates. This is a lot.

Perhaps this is why all registered Severe Methemoglobinemia due to Sodium Nitrite Poisoning, Severe Methemoglobinemia due to Sodium Nitrite Poisoning, Nitrates and nitrites, Accidental acute fatal sodium nitrite poisoning. deaths have been attributed to ingestion of large amounts of pure sodium nitrate.

So the food is safe?

100 g of the most nitrate salad among products contains only 450 mg of nitrates. To increase the level of methemoglobin, you have to eat more than two kilograms of greens at a time.

Even if a farmer fertilized the land right before harvesting and the amount of nitrates in his products exceeds the maximum permissible concentration, you are most likely safe. Considering that most vegetables are washed and cooked before use, and this reduces the amount of nitrates, only raw foodists who are trying to gain weight threaten poisoning.

Perhaps that is why Lifehacker was unable to find a single officially registered case of poisoning people with nitrate vegetables.

Can you poison yourself with water?

High concentrations in water are not harmful to adults, but can harm children Survey of Literature Relating to Infant Methemoglobinemia Due to Nitrate-Contaminated Water, Continuing importance of nitrate contamination of groundwater and wells in rural areas before the age of six months. Due to the decreased acidity of the stomach and the lack of reducing enzymes, nitrates are more actively converted to nitrites. This means that infants have a higher risk of developing methemoglobinemia.

However, such cases are also quite rare and controversial. Food sources of nitrates and nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits. Perhaps they are not connected at all with the amount of nitrates in the water, but with intestinal infections Nitrate and nitrite in drinking-water.

Good. But maybe nitrates will cause poisoning when they accumulate in the body?

Nitrates are constantly present in The Role of Nitrate in Human Health in the human body, but do not accumulate in it. Part of the nitrates ingested with food is excreted in the urine. The other part is converted to nitric oxide and is used by the body for various processes, including vasodilation and transmission of nerve impulses.

How to understand if there is a lot of nitrates in food and water?

Aquarium tests can be purchased to determine the amount of nitrate in the water. 1 liter should contain no more than 45 mg of nitrates.

Finding out how much nitrate is in food is much more difficult. Portable nitrate meters are ineffective About portable "nitrate meters" because they measure the total amount of salts, not just the nitric acid salt. Because of this, the readings can be greatly overestimated.

But you can navigate in the products by the Resolution of the Chief State Sanitary Doctor of the Russian Federation of November 14, 2001 N 36 "On the introduction of sanitary rules" (with changes and additions) and without devices. This will help you:

• Product type. The most nitrates are in greens: spinach, parsley, lettuce, dill, arugula. Medium - in cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers. In fruits and berries, nitric acid salts hardly accumulate.
• Growing conditions. Greenhouse vegetables contain almost twice as much nitrate as outdoor vegetables.
• Harvest time. Early vegetables contain more nitrates. For example, cabbage and carrots harvested before September 1 contain almost twice as much nitric acid as vegetables harvested in the fall.

In addition, the amount of sunlight, the use of fertilizers, and storage conditions affect the concentration. But you won't know anything about them if you buy vegetables at the store.

Also, it will not be possible to find out how much nitrate was added to meat products.

Maybe I should give up purchased vegetables, sausages and canned food altogether?

You can refuse canned food, sausages and salted and smoked meat: there will be no harm to health, only benefit.

But vegetables and herbs are necessary for the body. If you can grow them yourself or buy from friends summer residents, great. If not, keep going to the store and do not try to give up plant foods.

There are so many vegetables in the famous American diet for hypertensive patients that the level of nitrates exceeds the Food sources of nitrates and nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits of the WHO recommendations by 5 times. At the same time, the diet has a proven Role of diet in hypertension management., Diet, blood pressure and hypertension. positive effect, lowers blood pressure and protects the cardiovascular system from heart attacks and strokes.

In addition, athletes take Dietary Nitrate Supplementation and Exercise Performance supplements with 400-600 mg of nitrates to improve blood oxygenation and muscle performance. And this is 2-3 times more than the daily norm.

I'm afraid anyway. What to do?

Just handle products:

• Cut off the petioles and stems. Most of them are Food sources of nitrates and nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits of nitrates. Carefully cut the stalks and attachment points of the tops.
• Wash and clean. Washing and peeling helps Nitrate in vegetables and their impact on human health. A review to reduce the amount of nitrates in potatoes by 75%.
• Cook or fry. Cooking reduces Nitrate in vegetables and their impact on human health. A review the amount of nitrates by 16–62%, and nitrites by 61–98%.
• Give up sausages, salted and smoked meat. Since it is not customary to further process them, it will not work to reduce the amount of nitrates and nitrites.