Eating Foods High in Nitrites & Nitrates is Good for Your Health

In a recent press release, researchers announced that eating nitrite and nitrate rich foods, and drinking plenty of water, is good for you. These foods may even help you survive and recover faster should you have a heart attack. Over 1.2 million Americans suffer from heart attacks every year. Of these, nearly half a million people, or 452,000, will die.

Researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have conducted experiments using mice. They determined that mice that consumed extra amounts of nitrite and nitrate had better outcomes following heart attacks than mice that did not consume extra nitrites and nitrates.

There were significant differences in the survival rate for mice that had an extra helping of foods containing nitrite and nitrate over those who ate a regular diet. Nearly half, 48 percent, of mice who consumed extra nitrite had less death in the cells of their heart tissues.
Additionally, 77 percent, of mice who consumed extra nitrites and nitrates survived a heart attack. Only 58 percent of mice that did not have adequate levels of nitrites survived a heart attack.

Nitrites and nitrates are commonly found in drinking water, vegetables, and cured meats. During a heart attack, nitrites form nitric oxide gas. This gas forces opens arteries that are closed or clogged, thus reducing the permanent damage to the heart muscle.

Nathan S. Bryan, Ph.D., believes that adding extra nitrites and nitrates to one's diet can also help other conditions that are related to blood or oxygen deprivation. These include peripheral vascular disease and strokes.

Many people avoid food with nitrites and nitrates because of concerns about cancer risks. Yet, researchers advise that we should not eliminate these foods from our diets.

According to this research, both green leafy vegetables and our own saliva are full of nitrates and we are not advised to avoid either. Bryan reminds readers that vegetables can have more than 100 times the amounts of nitrate than what is found in processed meat.

"This is a very significant finding given the fact that simple components of our diet - nitrite and nitrate - that we have been taught to fear and restrict in food can now protect the heart from injury. Simple changes in our daily dietary habits such as eating nitrite and nitrate rich foods such as fruits and vegetables and some meats in moderation can drastically improve outcome following a heart attack," said Nathan S. Bryan, Ph.D., an assistant professor at UT-Houston's Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases.

The National Institutes of Health, and National Scientist Development Award from the American Heart Association provided funding for this study. The results have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source:
http://publicaffairs.uth.tmc.edu/Media/newsreleases/nr2007/nitrite_nitrate.htm