In this week’s episode of The Whole Circle Podcast we delve into the topic of nitrates and nitrites and the link between processed meats and cancer.

Sausages in bread, ham and cheese toasties, bacon and eggs on a Sunday morning … they’re all staples in a household these days.  Unfortunately, deli meats are likely to have nitrates or nitrites in them.

What are Nitrates and Nitrites?

They’re commonly known as the same thing, but that’s really not true.  They are actually made up of different molecules of nitrogen and oxygen.  The chemical difference between nitrites and nitrates is how many oxygen atoms each compound contains. Nitrites have two oxygen atoms and one nitrogen, whereas nitrates have three oxygen atoms. It is possible for nitrates to turn into nitrites by losing an oxygen atom, and the reverse can happen as well.

Today we will most likely talk about nitrates as they’re a lot more commonly used.

Where are they found?

Nitrates naturally occur in a lot of fruit and vegetables such as celery, beetroot and tomatoes which our bodies actually need.  Our bodies break them down and process them correctly because they are in wholefood form.  So, if you can tolerate eating whole foods such as celery, beetroot and tomatoes then your body can process and break down naturally occurring nitrates.

However, the preservative nitrate is chemically made to mimic the natural version of it.  But when things are synthetically made our bodies can’t recognise them in the same way, process them in the same way or break them down in the same way.  It’s chemically added to our foods to stop bacteria growing so that foods have a longer shelf-life.  It’s also added in to give meats their pink colour, making it more pleasing to the eye.

It’s found in processed meats such as ham, salami, bacon, sausages, lunch meats, hot dogs etc.  Most of which you will find in the delicatessen or in the chilled packaged food section of your supermarket.  Here’s a tip though, you can ask to see the ingredients list for products in the deli as they’re written on the back of the price tag.  So, don’t be scared to ask for them, because by law they’re required to give them to you.

What’s so bad about them?

Once this preservative is in your bloodstream it can be highly carcinogenic.  It can be known to cause major problems with your liver and pancreas (amongst other organs).

They’re also linked to shortness of breath, lack of energy, dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting and sometimes tingling to the hand’s, mouth and feet.

Pretty nasty huh?!

Let’s get sciency…

 

Nitrites have been known as a toxic ingredient since the 1970s.  The US Department of Agriculture tried to ban it, but it was vetoed because food manufacturers complained there was no alternative they could use instead.  Therefore, even as far back as the 1970s, it’s been known that Nitrites are not great for us to be consuming.  Totally scary and disappointing!

It wasn’t until 2007 that the science world started to take notice when the World Cancer Research Fund conducted a study and found that eating just one sausage a day increased your risk of bowel cancer.  This equates to roughly one sausage or three pieces of bacon (with the preservatives in it) increasing your risk of cancer by 20%!

In 2010 there was a lot of media hype around bacon and whether it was cancer causing due to the ingredients in it.  The World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that ingested nitrites and nitrates are probable human carcinogens.  Not only that, but they are just as bad as smoking to our health.  Just think about that for a moment!

The Harvard School of Public Health found that eating processed meats increased the risk of heart disease by a whopping 42% and the risk of type 2 diabetes by 19%!

Even after all these scary revelations, nitrates and nitrites are still widely and commonly used! ?  The government and industries have not deemed our health important enough to eradicate these hideous preservatives.

Is there any good news?

Yes!! As we have said, we don’t go without.  We love bacon, we just choose nitrate/nitrite/preservative-free bacon.  Our local butcher makes preservative and gluten-free sausages, all we had to do was ask him.  Usually, butchers will make preservative sausages into 5kg lots.  So, if your butcher won’t separate them into 1kg lots and sell them to others and they want you to purchase the whole 5kgs, which in all honesty is not as much as you think it would be, then you can simply freeze them.  Or what Jo does is cook a large batch of them and freeze the cooked sausages.  Her kids will quite often take a frozen sausage in their lunchbox to school and by lunchtime, it’s defrosted, and they love eating them cold.

The things we struggle to buy are salami and those types of processed meats.  But we don’t go without completely, we will still eat them every now and then, just not on a regular basis.

If you can’t find low or no nitrate-free devon, ham, salami, chicken loaf etc. (have a hunt around because they can be found) then you could have shredded chicken or cold nitrate-free sausages instead.  Or as Tracey’s kids like, simply a salad sandwich without meat.

Let us know

If you have some great alternatives to deli meats that you love to eat in salads, sandwiches or lunches then hit us up.  Comment below or comment in our Facebook Chat Group.  Let’s all share so we can inspire each other.

Want to know more?

Then you need to come and join us in our signature e-course Additive-Free Made Easy which is now open for early-bird purchase.  Our next round starts soon on 16 March.  It will also never be at this low price again so register before early bird ends on 8 March to secure your spot.

You will learn information like this and soooo much more.  What additives to avoid and why, scientific studies behind it, what they’re linked to, then how you can easily start living an additive-free lifestyle.

Register here: https://additivefreelifestyle.com/afme

Jo and Tracey x

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