Faces of Agriculture

Cured meats found to hold health benefits

Nitrites and nitrates are naturally found in the human body and a growing collection of medical research is showing the compounds are actually beneficial to human health, particularly cardiovascular health.

The good news for food producers is that these new-found health benefits can be gained through the consumption of nitrite/nitrate-rich foods such as cured meats and leafy green vegetables.

The findings also dispute the scare tactics of some groups that push the messaging that cured meats influence certain cancers.

If nitrites were a cancer-causing source, then commonsense would have it that green, leafy vegetables would be more of a concern than cured meats. As the table below shows, much higher levels of nitrites and nitrates are associated with vegetables than cured meats.

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View table on nitrite levels in various foods

When you think of meat do you think of health food? We talk with Dr. Nathan Bryan, an expert on the subject, whose research has shown nitrites and nitrates in cured meat are actually good for us and our hearts.