“Food, one assumes, provides nourishment; but Americans eat it fully aware that small amounts of poison have been added to improve its appearance and delay its putrefaction.”
-John Cage

Vitamin C also helps protect against certain chemical additives in food. Sodium nitrite is a chemical additive that food manufacturers add to virtually all packaged meat products:  sausage, hot dogs, bacon, bologna, sliced ham, deli slices, lunch meat, pepperoni, and the meat that goes into canned soups. This additive is used to prevent processed meats from turning a putrid gray color. When you eat sodium nitrite, it mixes with the digestive juices of your stomach and creates a chemical called nitrosamine. Nitrosamines are such potent cancer-causing chemicals that lab researchers inject mice with nitrosamines when they want to give those mice cancer.  Nitrosamines are so toxic that in the 1970’s, the USDA attempted to ban them from packaged meats. Unfortunately, the agency lost because of the influence of powerful meat packing companies.

Vitamin C can reduce the development of nitrosamines, but again, you should not use this as an excuse to continue eating foods containing sodium nitrite.  Studies have shown that children who eat certain smoked sausages are more likely to develop autoimmune diseases, presumably because of their nitrate content.

Note: The processing of soy protein also results in the formation of nitrosamines. This is true of all soy products that are not fermented. However, fermented soy products like tempeh, miso and tamari should be avoided as they promote fungal growth.

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