What are the hazards of nitrate to human body

The main use of nitrates is to enable plants to absorb nitrogen fertilizer. In people’s daily lives, foods such as overnight meals and pickled foods contain nitrates. If people consume these foods containing nitrates. Symptoms such as poisoning and hypoxia will appear to varying degrees. Severe cases may lead to shock and unconsciousness. So what are the hazards of nitrates to the human body? Let’s take a closer look at it.

Foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, salted fish, ham, and sausage all contain nitrates and nitrites. Nitrates can be reduced to nitrites. After nitrite is ingested into the stomach, it reacts with secondary amines, a product of protein decomposition, under the action of gastric acid to form nitrosamines. There is also a type of bacteria in the stomach called nitrate-reducing bacteria, which can also combine nitrite with amines to form nitrosamines. These bacteria thrive when stomach acid is lacking. Therefore, no matter how much stomach acid there is, it is conducive to the production of nitrosamines. Nitrosamines have strong carcinogenic effects, mainly causing esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer and colorectal cancer.

The carcinogenicity of nitrosamines can be controlled. Smoked and pickled foods can prevent the conversion of nitrates under frozen conditions, or adding vitamin C when eating (preferably with vegetables rich in vitamin C) can also reduce the carcinogenic effect. In addition, since nitrosamines are extremely unstable, once food and drinking water are contaminated by nitrosamines, the nitrosamines will disappear or decrease if they are exposed to sunlight for a while. This is because nitrosamines will undergo photolysis under the irradiation of ultraviolet and visible light, causing the nitrosamines to decompose. This can greatly reduce the chance of us accidentally ingesting nitrosamines. Combined with measures such as improving food processing methods and applying molybdenum fertilizer to the soil to reduce the nitrite content in grains and vegetables, the entry of nitrosamines into the human body can be controlled.

It should also be pointed out that even if we eat nitrosamines, we may not necessarily develop cancer. The occurrence of cancer is closely related to the type and amount of nitrosamines. Moreover, nitrosamines are only external causes, and external factors must work through internal factors. As long as we pay attention to dietary nutrition, eat more foods rich in vitamin C and strengthen our physical fitness, the body's anti-cancer ability will be enhanced, and nitrosamines will not be able to cause trouble.

The above is a detailed introduction to the harm of nitrates to the human body. I believe everyone already has a certain understanding of the production process of nitrates. In people's daily lives, they should try to avoid eating overnight leftovers and try not to eat thoroughly pickled food. It should be noted that if symptoms such as nitrate poisoning occur, you must go to the hospital for examination and treatment immediately.