The DOI matches its Crossref record; 99 of the 99 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Nitrates/Nitrites in Food—Risk for Nitrosative Stress and Benefits
Open accessAbstract
In the context of impact on human health, nitrite/nitrate and related nitrogen species such as nitric oxide (NO) are a matter of increasing scientific controversy. An increase in the content of reactive nitrogen species may result in nitrosative stress—a deleterious process, which can be an important mediator of damage to cell structures, including lipids, membranes, proteins and DNA. Nitrates and nitrites are widespread in the environment and occur naturally in foods of plant origin as a part of the nitrogen cycle. Additionally, these compounds are used as additives to improve food quality and protect against microbial contamination and chemical changes. Some vegetables such as raw spinach, beets, celery and lettuce are considered to contain high concentrations of nitrates. Due to the high consumption of vegetables, they have been identified as the primary source of nitrates in the human diet. Processed meats are another source of nitrites in our diet because the meat industry uses nitrates/nitrites as additives in the meat curing process. Although the vast majority of consumed nitrates and nitrites come from natural vegetables and fruits rather than food additives, there is currently a great deal of consumer pressure for the production of meat products free of or with reduced quantities of these compounds. This is because, for years, the cancer risks of nitrates/nitrites have been considered, since they potentially convert into the nitrosamines that have carcinogenic effects. This has resulted in the development and rapid expansion of meat products processed with plant-derived nitrates as nitrite alternatives in meat products. On the other hand, recently, these two ions have been discussed as essential nutrients which allow nitric oxide production and thus help cardiovascular health. Thus, this manuscript reviews the main sources of dietary exposure to nitrates and nitrites, metabolism of nitrites/nitrates, and health concerns related to dietary nitrites/nitrates, with particular emphasis on the effect on nitrosative stress, the role of nitrites/nitrates in meat products and alternatives to these additives used in meat products.
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![Figure 1 General dietary exposure of nitrate and nitrite [8].](/paper-figures/64c5cccaf792422c898e11b3e000f065/nitrates-nitrites-in-foodrisk-for-nitrosative-stress-and-benefits-figure-1.jpg)
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“These compounds can be formed when nitrite reacts with amines in acidic conditions or during high-temperature processing, particularly in protein-rich foods such as processed meats [273,274,275].”
From Dietary Nitrate-Rich Vegetables as Natural Modulators of Health: Mechanisms and Benefits in Ageing Populations (2026) · cites this paper as [274]
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Cites
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“Endogenous nitrates and nitrites are produced in the L‐arginine/NO‐synthase pathway [19].”
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Sorted by citations
Gómez, I., Janardhanan, R., Ibañez, F., & Beriáin, M. (2020) · Foods · doi:10.3390/foods9101416 · Cited by 256
Nitrite and nitrate in meat processing: Functions and alternatives
Zhang, Y., Zhang, Y., Jia, J., Peng, H., Qian, Q., Pan, Z., & Liu, D. (2023) · Current Research in Food Science · doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100470 · Cited by 210
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Antioxidants and Reactive Oxygen Species: Shaping Human Health and Disease Outcomes
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Metadata
- Authors
- Karwowska, M., & Kononiuk, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Life Sciences in Lublin (PL)
- Corresponding author
- Karwowska, Małgorzata
- Venue
- Antioxidants
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-03-16
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 241
- ISSN
- 2076-3921 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7139399
- OpenAlex
- W3010936819
- Cited by
- 360
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 68 · 2025: 82 · 2024: 58 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 4
- FWCI
- 4.84
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Antioxidants (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Nitric Oxide and Endothelin Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Biochemistry (medical) › Phytochemicals and Antioxidant Activities
- Keywords
- dietary nitrate, dietary nitrite, nitrosative stress, nitric oxide, reactive nitrogen species, nitrosamines, processed meat, meat curing, nitrite alternatives, vegetables, nitrite metabolism, cardiovascular health, cancer risk
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