[lordnacho]

According to the article:

" After all, nitrate is naturally present in many green vegetables, including celery and spinach, something that bacon manufacturers often jubilantly point out. As one British bacon-maker told me, “There’s nitrate in lettuce and no one is telling us not to eat that!”

But something different happens when nitrates are used in meat processing. When nitrates interact with certain components in red meat (haem iron, amines and amides), they form N-nitroso compounds, which cause cancer. The best known of these compounds is nitrosamine. "

[ip26]

Perhaps a small irony, the nitrates in green vegetables & beets actually enhances athletic performance.

[matsemann]

Yeah, I've only heard about nitrates in the context of red beet juice for long distance races. When trying to search about the merits of it, I was always confused about it being so heavily touted as both bad and good, but this explains it.

[shirakawasuna]

Please repeat this explanation but for me, a person who can't read.

[ip26]

I'll humor you- in short, nitrates are fine, but when combined with red meat you create new compounds that are harmful.

Not unlike how 6ppd in car tires seems safe, but when it reacts with ozone, the byproduct kills salmon.

[Gibbon1]

I remember reading that in the late 1950's the FDA limited the amount of nitrites in meat. And also required adding ascorbic acid. The idea is that when you cook meat treated with nitrites the ascorbic acid destroys the nitrite before they have a chance to form nitrosamines.

Might be that nitrites in uncooked vegies is fine.