AngryToxicologist is a scientist in the public health sector, knows plenty about toxicology, and is occasionally angry about it all. Drop me a line at Maybe, but you should certainly avoid deli meats for the listeria (If you follow through that link and read you'll know why). This isn't an abstract risk, Listeria out breaks are happening all the time (just ask a Canuck how their year went). Let's not go down that road and get back to the nitrates.
Nitrates can convert to nitrites in your gut if you have high pH. If you're normal almost all of the nitrates are not converted or absorbed into your body. Now, there's no good way to tell if you have a high pH gut so you're going to have to assume that you do. So, these converted nitrites get absorbed and do one of two things: they form N-nitrosamines which are cancer causing agents, or they latch on to hemaglobin to form methemoglobinemia, a condition that makes it so your blood can't carry oxygen around. When you're pregnant, you're worried about the second issue.
How that lack of oxygen leads to the effects nitrates are known for is unknown. Perhaps it through a different pathway. Regardless, from animal studies, we know that nitrate, nitrite, and N-nitroso compounds cross the placenta. Methemoglobin probably can't after the 4th month or so but this doesn't ease the problem of low oxygen delivery to the placenta.
The most consistent finding from nitrates is that of spontaneous abortion. This occurs in some studies at as little as 2.5mg/kg in not in others and seems to be about the break point. A pregnant rat is roughly 200 g or little under so that's about 0.5 mg/day for a rat. To convert to an equivalent human dose toxicologists (good ones anyway) use a mg/m^2 basis. So 2.5 mg/kg is about 15 mg/m^2 in a rat; 15 mg/m^2 in a human is about 24 mg/day for an average person. The amount of nitrates in meats has gone down quite a bit over the past couple years and meats have between 6-20 mg/kg of nitrate so you'd have to eat over a kg of a highly perserved meat (like salami for instance) to get close to this.
You can see where I'm going with this: if you eat a small amount of food with nitrates once in a while you're fine but it's a good idea to generally avoid them. Interestingly enough, most of your nitrate intake comes from really healthy things like dark green veggies that you need to keep eating especially while pregnant (although a daily spinach salad may be overboard). All things in moderation. Oh, one more thing. If you eat a lot of vitamin C with the nitrates, it reduces the amount that's converted to nitrites.
There is a better way.
Don't want high nitrates or listeria? Do what I do: make your own! Last year I posted on my favorite breakfast sausage recipie, and you can make your own small hams and bacon and use very little or no nitrates. An excellent source is Charcuterie (I've got their breakfast sausage beat, though). The thing about making your own sausage is that it tastes much, much better, you'll enjoy the product even more (and likely the process too), but best of all, you'll end up eating less because you recognize the work that went into it and will view these cured meats as the treats they are.
Thanks to Liz for asking the question.
Medicine & Health
Comments
You're pregnant??
Posted by: Erin | December 18, 2008 11:50 AM
The listeria point is a very good one, and I agree, far more important than the nitrate consideration.
There is a very good post on this at Junkfood Science, pointing out that many common vegetables have far more nitrates than cured meats.
http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/07/does-banning-hotdogs-and-bacon-make.html
I actually think the meat itself is the most important consideration, and how the product was produced (industrially?), not whether the added nitrates are synthetic or natural (celery juice, etc.).
Was the animal(s) humanely raised on natural feed (pastured) without added growth hormones and healthy and unstressed at the time of slaughter?
Or was the animal raised quickly with added antibiotics and growth hormones to speed the the time to market weight? Did the animal(s) live a miserable, stressed life without a natural herd hierarchy in a CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation), eating predominately grains and other unnatural feeds (which also raises rumen (gut) pH and mutation/production of pathogenic e. coli bacteria), while breathing fecal dust? Was it stressed and already showing signs of disease at the time of slaughter, to the point that it was prompted to move along with a fork lift?
Was the cured meat produced in an artisan manner, with care and individual attention with a technique and recipe that goes back generations, perhaps even a process that is hundreds or 1000s of years in old? If there is a contamination problem, in this method of production, it is likely to only affect a small number of people in a limited geographical area, therefore more easily contained and managed.
Or was it made in a factory with machines controlling the process, with fillers and extenders to make up for lack of quality real food ingredients, added chemicals to shorten the production process, cheapen the product, artificially extend the shelf-life, and mask the lack of flavor compared to the artisan versions? And if the there is a listeria recall, does it extend across a wide swath of area, across state or even national borders? Will all of the product ever be identified or withheld from the public before it is consumed?
So I don't worry so much about nitrates as long as I choose well-produced foods that are made from quality ingredients. To that end I am learning to make more of these myself. Once I tasted a super slow roasted round roast of bison, venison, or beef, I knew I couldn't buy common packaged or even grocery store deli counter roast beef anymore. I make my own (10 minutes prep and the oven does the rest!).
Posted by: Anna | December 18, 2008 3:05 PM
The best way to prevent bacon-related Listeria is to make sure your bacon is cooked to a complete crisp, and that it's served piping hot.
mmm...bacon.
As for nitrates and nitrites, I'd rather get right to the point: mmm...bacon.
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Posted by: B. H. Wee | December 19, 2008 11:57 PM
To convert to an equivalent human dose toxicologists (good ones anyway) use a mg/m^2 basis.
strange; 'cos there seem to be an awful lot of papers in the literature pointing out that there are other methods, and that body surface area is not always appropriate.
2.5 mg/kg turns out to be >170 mgs for your 70kg human, and that would be >8kgs of preserved meat, according to your figures.
if you eat a small amount of food with nitrates once in a while you're fine but it's a good idea to generally avoid them.
you know, I really don't understand where you come up with this, even from your own logic. You are under the effect level for nitrates, unless you are eating more than a kg of meat per day; which I judge to be fairly unlikely.
confused
per
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Posted by: John Wilpers, Global Blog Coordinator, GlobalPost.com | January 8, 2009 12:16 PM
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The best way to prevent bacon-related Listeria is to make sure your bacon is cooked to a complete crisp, and that it's served piping hot.
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