Nitrite-free meat products

[Bilge 34]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46710071

 

Should shops still be selling this stuff? Should we be eating it? Where can we buy alternatives?

 

I enjoyed the sausages, bacon, ham etc over xmas but I'm wondering whether a change of diet is a good idea.

[ANGELFIRE1 10]

All of us will be pushing Daises up one day, can't see me not eating red meat any day soon.

 

Angel1.

[shaunyj 10]

We had some of the fancy nitrite free bacon a while ago, to be honest it didn't taste nice at all, all things in moderation etc 

I think the general lack of inactivity is probably a bigger threat than the odd bacon sandwich

[medusa 16]

In the few days, I've read more than one piece about why cheese (in particular) and dairy (in general) shouldn't be in our diet any more, the risks of soya products causing hormonal imbalance, the risks caused by nitrites in processed meat, the risks of eating fish that may have too high mercury in it and a couple of others which contradict each other on the relative risks and benefits from eating a carbohydrate-rich diet.

 

Strangely, when I got the cancer, I was a 26 year old non smoking teetotal vegan, of a healthy weight for my height.  My lifestyle and diet choices made no difference.

[Obelix 11]

8 hours ago, medusa said:

In the few days, I've read more than one piece about why cheese (in particular) and dairy (in general) shouldn't be in our diet any more, the risks of soya products causing hormonal imbalance, the risks caused by nitrites in processed meat, the risks of eating fish that may have too high mercury in it and a couple of others which contradict each other on the relative risks and benefits from eating a carbohydrate-rich diet.

 

Strangely, when I got the cancer, I was a 26 year old non smoking teetotal vegan, of a healthy weight for my height.  My lifestyle and diet choices made no difference.

I did a bit of digging on the articles that I've seen about the evils of cheese...

 

The authors were shall we say rather umm militant vegans and I'd have to say taking unbiased advice off of them about the "evils" of cheese would not be something I would rush to do...

[Cyclone 10]

21 hours ago, shaunyj said:

We had some of the fancy nitrite free bacon a while ago, to be honest it didn't taste nice at all, all things in moderation etc 

I think the general lack of inactivity is probably a bigger threat than the odd bacon sandwich

ALL things?  Are you sure?

So, a little mercury, perhaps some arsenic?  Just in moderation of course.

[geared 318]

Well at risk of being a total pedant, but there is trace amounts of Mercury in Fish.

The same is somewhat true for Arsenic, but amounts vary depending on the country of origin.

Edited January 2, 2019 by geared

[shaunyj 10]

12 minutes ago, Cyclone said:

ALL things?  Are you sure?

So, a little mercury, perhaps some arsenic?  Just in moderation of course.

Humour or bored?

[Cyclone 10]

10 minutes ago, geared said:

Well at risk of being a total pedant, but there is trace amounts of Mercury in Fish.

The same is somewhat true for Arsenic, but amounts vary depending on the country of origin.

Indeed there are.

But given the option of not consuming them, you'd be better off without.  Mercury isn't something that's good for you in any quantity.

 

Which was sort of my point.  Everything in moderation is a trite truism that normalises the consumption of harmful things.  So if nitrites are actively harmful for us in any quantity, then "in moderation" isn't really what you want to apply to them.

9 hours ago, medusa said:

 

Strangely, when I got the cancer, I was a 26 year old non smoking teetotal vegan, of a healthy weight for my height.  My lifestyle and diet choices made no difference.

And unfortunately that's how it works for individuals, you either do or don't have cancer and if you do then your healthy lifestyle "didn't work"...  But if you look at groups then it's a very different picture.  Smokers are far more likely to get lung cancer than non smokers.  As an individual you can still get lung cancer even if you've never smoked, but that doesn't mean you were at the same risk, just that you were more highly unlucky than most.

[apelike 10]

The whole nitrite thing in processed meats is a bit OTT as only around 10% of nitrites in the human body actually come from processed meat while the other 90% comes from vegetables. It is also a fact that there is no difference in the incidence of CRC in humans in the UK that are vegetarians or meat eaters, and yet in the USA there is a big difference.

Edited January 2, 2019 by apelike

[Cyclone 10]

Nitrites in the human body aren't the issue though are they.

It's what happens to nitrites in the meat when it's cooked at grill or pan temperatures.  They change chemically to form carcinogenic compounds.

 

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142427.php

 

A recent UK study actually found higher rates of CRC amongst vegetarians.  But the authors note that the sample (which was quite large, 65k people) might not have been representative as the overall rate of cancer was lower than expected.

[apelike 10]

True but the problem is that although Nitrosamines are formed by cooking a high heat they are also formed naturally by the acid reactions in the stomach. It also seems to vary a great deal in some countries such as the USA and the UK.

 

I think this sums it up well, from your link:

 

Quote: "He explained that it was very difficult to do studies on the links between diet and cancer."