Nitrates and Nitrites – The True Story – by Marilyn Pazer-Spear
500 lambs/sheep died in one night due to nitrate poisoning…nitrates from fertilizer got into their water supply and destroyed their thyroids and they died from hypothermia. Nitrates interfere with thyroid function.
The lambs were not receiving all of their minerals via their salt blocks.
Dr. Joel Wallach BS, DVM, Post Doc (Pathology), ND received a $21M grant from the National Institute of Health (via Marlin Perkins, the famed host of- Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom) after his first scientific research paper regarding why 500 lambs died in one night!
The temperature dropped during the night below freezing, and since the lambs could not maintain their body temperature, 500 died in one night!
This was one of Dr. Wallach’s first publications!
Problem with Nitrates and Nitrites:
Nitrates and nitrites are not themselves carcinogenic; nevertheless, they have the potential (during the endogenous pathway as well as processing of food) to react with other compounds to form carcinogens.
Nitrates break down into chemicals called nitrosamines. These nitrosamines can increase your risk of cancer.
Studies show that eating vegetables rich in natural nitrates can help reduce your risk of getting some chronic health conditions, whereas eating foods high in added nitrates can cause health risks. WHY IS THAT?
Experts think that the antioxidants (such as vitamin C) in vegetables with high nitrates help prevent their breakdown into nitrosamines.
When your body breaks down the nitrates from vegetables, it makes nitric oxide instead of nitrosamines.
Nitric oxide increases your blood flow and blood pressure, keeps your heart healthy, and helps your body make hormones and other signaling molecules.
BUT, foods high in added nitrates, such as cured meat, aren’t high enough in antioxidants to keep them from breaking down into nitrosamines.
Nitrosamines are not directly carcinogenic. Metabolic activation is required to convert them to the alkylating agents that modify bases in DNA, inducing mutations. The specific alkylating agents vary with the nitrosamine, but all are proposed to feature alkyldiazonium centers.
A 2006 systematic review supports a “positive association” between nitrite and nitrosamine intake and gastric cancer, between meat and processed meat intake and gastric cancer and esophageal cancer, and between preserved fish, vegetable and smoked food intake and gastric cancer
See:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitrosamine
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7139399/….
Nitrates in food and medicine: What’s the story? – Harvard Health