[Skybird]

On NITRATE and NITRITE


I stumbled over the topic of nitrate durign my latest researchges on ketongenic diat and the socalled Paleo food trend. It seems to be another myth that since some years gets busted: that it is oh so dangerous to our health and that we should avoid it. Personally, I have never cared much for it. BTW, our salvia includes plenty of nitrate - multiple times a smiuch as we eat per day even if we consuke large ammounts of nitrate-including food products, salted and processed meat, bacon and the likes.



The following is by Udo Pollmer, a German food chemist and book author on (mostly) food, he also runs an according institute. He is known for his laconic comments and black-humoured, witty writing style, and often takes uncomfortable, unorthodox positions on topics.

Nitrate - the new brain food. From environmental toxin to therapeutic

By Udo Pollmer



Green salad didn't seem to be one of the favorite dishes of our columnist and food chemist Udo Pollmer. But now Saul seems to have become Paul. Because recently this vegetable is apparently "healthy" for him too. But hear for yourself.

In winter, fresh vegetables have a rather bad reputation. Vegetables are healthy, everyone knows, but with greenhouse goods there are bad nitrate spinners: too little sun - too much fertilizer. Nitrate is also said to promote the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines in the body. However, especially in winter, our immune system does not need artificial fertilizers but “protective vitamins” and “valuable minerals”. Every child learns that today.

And now everything should be very, very different: It is precisely this “bad” nitrate that is developing into a superstar in medicine: the environmental toxin quietly turned into a sought-after therapeutic agent. It has long been known that the body fights pathogens with nitrate or nitrite.

For example, the more nitrite there is in saliva, the less often tooth decay occurs. And the nitrite, our oral flora forms from the nitrate. Vitamin C cannot hold a candle to nitrite: As a lozenge, the vitamin even attacks the teeth and our immune system cannot do much with it either. Recently, the nitrate has even been said to prevent diseases such as stroke and dementia. The background: our body not only forms nitrite from nitrate but also from it the messenger substance nitric oxide. Nitric oxide dilates the blood vessels and thus promotes blood circulation. The amazing thing is that the nitric oxide in the brain works specifically where the blood flow decreases and the supply of oxygen suffers. That's why nitrate lowers the risk of stroke and prevents dementia.

This is the first time that this has been verified directly in humans. And under realistic conditions: The test subjects had to eat products that were particularly rich in nitrates. This finally gives us a reasonable indication of why a slightly lower blood pressure was observed time and again in vegetable eaters. As previously speculated, it is not the potassium that is responsible for this, but the nitrate. This would finally rehabilitate the lettuce from the greenhouse - and for the sake of fairness also the other winter vegetables with their high nitrate levels, i.e. those that we have always been warned about.

So did the environmentalists slaughter the wrong pig by fighting nitrate in drinking water? Not necessarily. Because there have always been studies that have found negative effects in drinking water contaminated with nitrates. But the context is completely different. A lot of nitrate in the water is a sign of overfertilization. In the case of natural manure, it is full of faecal germs. Of course, all kinds of microbes slip through with the manure, namely viruses - and the more manure is distributed in the landscape, the greater the risk.

It is different with artificial fertilizers: it supplies nitrate, but it does not spread viruses. We know from the workers in fertilizer plants that the artificial fertilizer apparently has a completely different effect than is commonly feared. Several studies have dealt with the health status and life expectancy or mortality of people who had to inhale and swallow the nitrate dusts every day in the fertilizer stores. Apparently that didn't hurt them, on the contrary, their life expectancy was even higher than that of the rest of the population. So far you just couldn't explain it. Now we finally know why. Contrary to previous assumptions, nitrate in our food is even beneficial to the health of adults - as long as it comes from a hygienic source.

Enjoy the meal!

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