I stopped eating bacon cured with nitites some time ago - looks like respected experts such as Aseem Malhotra are in agreement
https://www.theguardian.com/food/20...to-cancer-experts-warn?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Seems to be as a result of the following study
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4690057/
On first read I picked up that this was a meta study type analysis, and was using the Relative Risk method of identifying significance. Many of the reports used in the analysis were pre 2012 so were subject to the known bias caused by the statistical methods used at that time, and the authors have apparently carried that through into their own analysis. The use of ranking and weighting is a method used to prevent weak studies from skewing the outcome so they get marked down in value and importance, and this was deemed to be a good point but in fact the weightings were chosen at whim by the authors and if not declared in the analysis so could be hidden. Thus several reports from this time period using this method of statistics were prone to being subjective in favour of a desired result simply by juggling the weighting factors. They certainly seem to have applied weightings to this report, and I can see no declaration of weighting factors or why they were being applied.
Secondly, the authors had to estimate the amount of nittrate/ nitrite. and NDMA that the historic study was measuring, and this was by analysing the food logs registered in the original study. This methodology is very dubious, but obviously it was all they had to go on, and a guess is better than none, eh?
Lastly in their conclusion section they openly admitted that there was one report that skewed the result significantly, but they still went ahead and declared the result as significant. I think if they had been using the new meta analysis statistical method then they could easily have had a different conclusion.
However, the Grauniad decided to do some scaremongering, and sexed up the findings in no uncertain terms. It is not the first time the correspondents writing their health articles have been guilty of this practice and will not be the last. I personally would apply my own weighting to this report and consign it to the bin. You get as many nitrates and nitriles from the veggies due to natural and intensive farming methods, so this problem exists in all foodstuffs.
The old fashioned way of preserving meats like ham and bacon by smoke curing also introduced some potential nasties and involved high salt use too, so I would not say we should go back to the old ways. And going vegan will not necessarily remove this particular problem either since these compounds are in all foods we consume.
