Rosalee Brown

A reader has communicated her concerns about the use of nitrites in response to my suggestion to 'cure' meats during the post-'Dean' period when the electric power went down. Here is my response to that reader.

Research indicates that nitrites can form cancer-causing agents called nitrosamines by reacting with secondary amines (amino acids). Their formation can occur only under conditions such as the highly acidic ones found in the stomach or in high temperatures such as in frying.

In food processing, antioxidant compounds such as ascorbic acid and vitamin E can inhibit nitrosamines formation. The United States Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture stipulate that the curing process must result in no more than 200 parts per million of sodium nitrites in the finished meat or poultry. The Jamaica Bureau of Standards speaks to regulation which governs the use of nitrites in sausage and is currently in the process of revising other standards which will address other cured meats.

Foods processed with pickling salts and even beers contain nitrosamines. Some studies have suggested a relationship between colon cancer and a high consumption of meats with nitrites, while others have pointed to bacteria in the preserved meats as the causative agent. Still other studies have linked the frequent consumption of meats cured with nitrites to congestive obstructive pulmonary disease, while another set of studies points to its beneficial effects, such as in dilating blood vessels and its potential advantage in increasing blood flow in conditions such as sickle-cell disease, heart attacks and pulmonary hypertension in infants.

However, the National Toxicology Programme Board in America in 2000, voted based on the revision of many published studies, that sodium nitrite does not cause cancer in humans.

So, are nitrites deadly?

Paracelsus, an alchemist of the 1500s wrote: "Everything is poison. There is nothing without poison. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison." This underlines the principle of food toxicology. Food toxicology recognises that all chemicals are potentially dangerous and dose determines the toxic effect.

The recent definition for a toxicant is a 'substance that has been shown to present some significant degree of possible risk when consumed in sufficient quantity by humans or animals'. We need strong laws that govern manufacturing and importation of foods that meet the optimum health standards for humans and animals. We need monitoring, sanctions and education of the manufacturers, importers and consumers.

There is much home preservation of meats in Jamaica and it is also done in retail outlets such as supermarkets and meat shops where 'corned' meat is sold and so the education of these persons is vital.

To individuals, moderation is vital in our food consumption patterns. We need to realise that nitrites are just one agent that we need to watch as it relates to moderation; sodium is another, so are fats, sugars, fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A etceteras.

A healthy lifestyle speaks to all we do 24 hours a day for our entire lives.

Nitrate is a saltof nitric acid which is found in fertilisers and also found naturally in many foods such as vegetables; it can be changed to nitrites in the digestive system starting with the saliva. The body produces more nitrites than is consumed in food. It has many functions in the body including antimicrobial benefits in the mouth and stomach. Large amounts also accumulate in plant tissues grown in heavily fertilised soils.

Nitrites are salts of nitrous acids. Sodium and potassium nitrites are used as preservatives in meats and fish and also in creating and fixing a pinkish to reddish colour. This is caused by the nitric oxide and the protein, myoglobin, in the meat reacting with oxygen and heme iron. The characteristic flavour developed owes its development to nitrites. Nitrites also prevent the growth of clostridium botulism in the cured meats, a deadly bacterium that causes botulism.