Foods Containing Nitrates

Foods Containing Nitrates

Nitrates are ingredients added to many of the foods you eat to achieve flavor, color and stability. In addition, they help protect against bacterial growth and rancidity, enhance the flavor of foods and add shelf life to products. According to Foodreference.com, caution must be taken when adding nitrates to food or consuming them, since an excess can be harmful.

Cured Meats And Bacon

Nitrates are added to cured meats and bacon products. Medical News Today states that consumption of these nitrate-containing foods may be harmful to you. More than 90 percent of nitrates have been shown to be carcinogenic in many bodily organs. A 2006 report in Medical News Today states that nitrates can turn into nitrosamines when in acidic environments, such as your stomach; nitrosamines are cancer-causing agents. To improve your diet, eliminate or limit your consumption of cured meats and bacon.

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Fruits And Vegetables

According to a 2009 study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," consuming plant food sources of nitrates may play a role in improving your health. This study stated that approximately 80 percent of nitrates in the diet are in vegetables and fruits. This study found that intake of nitrates from fruits and vegetables may play a role in lowering your blood pressure, but concluded that more research into the potential benefits of nitrate consumption is necessary.

Drinking Water

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nitrates may be present in inorganic fertilizers, contributing to the presence of these substances in drinking water sources. Nitrate concentration of both surface and groundwater is typically low, but can reach high levels due to leaching from soil or contamination from human or animal wastes. The WHO says a guideline intake value for nitrate is 50 mg/litre; any amount higher than this may pose harm, particularly to infants. The health concern related to nitrate intake by infants is called methaemoglobinaemia, a condition in which the blood cells are not able to transport oxygen efficiently through the body. This can lead to insufficient supply of both oxygen and nutrients to vital organs and the brain.

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Why Are Nitrates Important?

Why Are Nitrates Important?

Overview

Nitrates are one of the most important substances in existence, especially if you have experienced problems with your heart. Nitrogen, one of the most abundant elements in nitrate, is present in the cells of every living thing and comprises nearly 80 percent of the air we breathe. Nitrogen is one of the primary elements found in amino acids and proteins. Inorganically, it exists diatomically as N2 gas and as nitrate, nitrite and ammonia.

Nitrates

Nitrates are prescription pharmaceutical medications effective in preventing and relieving angina, or chest pain. If you suffer from coronary artery disease, these vasodilators cause your blood vessels to dilate or widen, relieving your chest pain. Nitroglycerin is one of the most commonly used nitrates along with isosorbide dinitrate and isosorbide mononitrate. If you suffer from chest pains, you most likely have been prescribed some form of one of these three nitrate medications by your doctor.

Treatment

If your doctor has prescribed medications containing nitrates, it is most likely for relief of angina once it occurs or, as a preventive measure, just before you engage in activities that may result in chest pain. Long-term daily treatments with nitrates may reduce your number of angina episodes, which may occur at various times throughout the day when your heart muscle is deficient in oxygen.

Angina

When your heart muscle does not receive as much oxygen as it needs, chest pain, or angina, occurs. Generally, this is from coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis, which causes the narrowing of coronary arteries that feed your heart muscle with blood and oxygen. As fatty plaque builds up on the inside lining of your coronary arteries, they become narrower and restrict blood flow, which reduces oxygen and causes angina.

Function

Nitrates relax and widen your arteries, which in turn increases blood flow and prevents or stops your chest pains. The wider, more relaxed arteries reduce the oxygen requirements of your heart when pumping blood by decreasing its workload. Since the effect of nitrates is temporary, repeated use is necessary if you suffer from frequent chest pains.

Efficacy

Your body may become used to nitrates if you take them on a regular basis and that can result in a loss of effectiveness, resulting in a condition called nitrate tolerance. Nitrate tolerance usually is not a problem if you only take nitrates at the onset of chest pains or prior to activities that may cause angina. If you take long-acting nitrates, your doctor may prescribe them for different times of the day. This is to give you nitrate-free periods to help prevent nitrate tolerance.

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What Vegetables Have Nitrates?

What Vegetables Have Nitrates?

Overview

Nitrate is a type of naturally occurring inorganic ion, or electrically charged molecule, that contains one atom of positively charged nitrogen and three atoms of negatively charged oxygen. Although largely inessential to the operation of the human body, you nevertheless most likely ingest nitrate every single day. Vegetablesare a source of nitrates in the diet.

Nitrogen Cycle

Nitrate is a natural part of the nitrogen cycle, the process by which nitrogen is cycled through the environment in its various chemical forms. Nitrogen is a fundamental part of organic molecules such as proteins. Once it is recycled, this nitrogen returns back to the earth. Microbes that live in soil or water decompose wastes full of nitrogen into ammonia and then metabolize it further into nitrite and nitrate. It can then migrate into plants that make use of soil and groundwater. In fact, nitrate is an important part of plant nutrition.

Vegetable Sources

According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, vegetables account for more than 70 percent of the nitrate in a typical human diet. However, the leaves and roots of plants tend to contain the highest concentrations of nitrate, where it is absorbed from the soil and then subjected to the effects of photosynthesis. This means that the greatest exposure to nitrate occurs from the consumption of leafy green vegetables such as cauliflower, spinach, collard greens, lettuce, spinach and broccoli. The other parts of plants contain palpable but lesser amounts of nitrate.

Effects

Even in large amounts, nitrate is relatively benign in most adult humans. It tends to be absorbed and then excreted through urine, which is the fate of most nitrogen-based molecules. In the blood, however, nitrate has the effect of converting hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying blood cells, into a molecule known as methemoglobin that is inefficient at transporting oxygen. This can result in a reduced oxygen supply to tissue such as the brain in infants and people lacking certain enzymes whose bodies cannot convert methemoglobin back to hemoglobin unlike in most healthy adults. This can also occur in pregnant women and adults with weak stomach acidity. Symptoms include headaches, dizziness, weakness and difficulty breathing.

Recommended Intake

Vegetables are only rarely a source of acute toxicity. The European Food Safety Authority, a regulatory and risk assessment branch of the European Union, found that an individual eating the recommended intake of vegetables, even when accounting for the intake from water and other food sources, receives a median dietary exposure to nitrate of 157 mg per day. By comparison, an adult weighing 60 kg, or 132 lbs., would have an acceptable daily nitrate intake of 222 mg per day. The researchers found that leafy vegetables were the critical driver behind exposure to nitrate.

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Nitrite & Nitrate Allergies

Nitrite & Nitrate Allergies

Overview

Although peanut butter, milk and fruits are common sources of food allergies, it also is possible to be allergic to other food components and additives. This includes nitrates, which are compounds that occur when nitrogen is broken down. Nitrates are converted into nitrites when certain bacteria -- including botulism toxin -- are present. If you suspect you may be experiencing a food allergy, knowing allergy symptoms and foods that contain nitrites can help you and your physician determine if you have an allergy.

Significance

A food allergy occurs when your body perceives a substance such as nitrates or nitrites as foreign substances. Your body responds by making antibodies, which are substances that typically fight off bacteria or viruses in your body. While antibodies normally are a positive response, in the case of foods that aren't harmful, you can experience symptoms like voice hoarseness, throat tightness, wheezing, cough, nausea, vomiting, stomach pain and diarrhea. In cases of a severe allergic reaction, you can experience anaphylaxis that affects your breathing and blood pressure.

Nitrate and Nitrite

Over time, botulism bacteria develop on meats. As a means to reduce the development of bacteria, the curing process was created. This involves adding sodium nitrates, which are changed to nitrite in the storage process, to enhance food preservation. This helps to give meats taste and extends their shelf lives. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration has recognized nitrates as "generally recognized as safe" as a food additive. This does not, however, mean your body may not have an allergic reaction to nitrate consumption. Also, nitrates are present in soil, meaning some vegetables that grow in the ground can contain nitrates as well.

Nitrate Foods

If you think you may have a nitrate allergy, you should avoid foods that contain nitrates. This includes cured meats like ham, hot dogs and bacon. Vegetables contain nitrates as well, including spinach, beets, radishes, celery and cabbage. Whenever possible, avoid these foods. You also can look for foods like hams and hots dogs labeled "uncured," "no nitrites" or "no nitrites added."

Pregnancy Considerations

Even if you do not typically have an allergic reaction to nitrates, you may find you experience an increased sensitivity when pregnant. This is because your blood contains more methehemoglobin, which is more sensitive to nitrates. You may notice an increased reaction after roughly the 30th week into your pregnancy. During this time, you may wish to avoid nitrates to prevent upset stomach.

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Foods That Release Nitrates

Foods That Release Nitrates

Overview

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry defines nitrates as inorganic ions that naturally occur in the nitrogen cycle. Nitrates are found in drinking water as well as soil and some foods. Nitrates are also used in chemical fertilizers and as food preservatives. High nitrate exposure can have some risks, so it is wise to be aware of food sources in your diet that contain nitrates.

Water

Drinking water accounts for about 21 percent of the nitrates in the standard human diet according to the ATSDR. Private well water is found to have an especially high concentration of nitrates. The ATSDR states that wells typically have nitrate levels that exceed the standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency. Nitrates used in farming can seep into ground supplies of water.

Vegetables

The ATSDR asserts that vegetables account for 70 percent of the nitrates found in the normal human diet. However, vegetables are not likely to be a source of dangerous amounts of toxicity. The vegetables with the highest amount of naturally occurring nitrates are cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, and root vegetables such as carrots and beets. Root vegetables tend to be lower in nitrate counts than leafy vegetables like spinach and kale.

Meats

About 6 percent of the nitrates in an average human diet come from meat sources as reported by the ATSDR. Sodium nitrates are used in meat and meat products for color enhancement, for flavoring and as a preservative. Meats containing concentrations of nitrates include bacon, ham, lunch meat, corned beef, sausage, smoked fish and hot dogs. Cured meats have high concentrations of nitrates, as sodium nitrate is used in the process of curing.

Risks

Infants under six months of age are at a higher risk for nitrate poisoning. Infants should not be fed foods that have nitrates before three months of age. Additionally, well water should be avoided when mixing infant formula, as it tends to have a higher nitrate count. If you have a private well, you can research how to have your well water tested through sources within your state. Pregnant women are also advised to avoid sources of high concentrations of nitrates.

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