Aotearoa / New Zealand

1653 readers

3 users here now

Kia ora and welcome to !newzealand, a place to share and discuss anything about Aotearoa in general

For politics , please use [email protected]
Shitposts, circlejerks, memes, and non-NZ topics belong in [email protected]
If you need help using Lemmy.nz, go to [email protected]
NZ regional and special interest communities

Rules:

Don't be a dick

FAQ ~ NZ Community List ~ Join Matrix chatroom

Banner image by Bernard Spragg

Got an idea for next month's banner?

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Nitrate contamination map of New Zealand launched by Greenpeace (www.rnz.co.nz)

submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Here's the actual map: https://maps.greenpeace.org/maps/aotearoa/know-your-nitrate/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

I thought nitrates were fine (vegetables are full of them) unless mixed with meat whero they form nitrosamines?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Basically in recent years a bunch of epidemiological studies have found the level at which it affects us is lower than previously thought.

This paper from the Australian and NZ jnl of Public Health is pretty good I think: Nitrate in drinking water and cancer risk: the biological mechanism, epidemiological evidence and future research

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Espejo-Herrera (2016) found when diets were high in vitamin C there was no statistically significant increase in risk of colon cancer from elevated nitrate levels in water

As I mentioned before, the cancer link must be related to poor diets lacking in antioxidants

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Maybe, but in terms of drinking water in a predominantly omnivore country, does this distinction matter? We have one of the highest bowel/colon/rectum cancer rates in the world, which is linked to nitrates in drinking water.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

They form from curing meat in super high levels for a long time. If the implication is that we can't consume nitrates with meat, we should probably be avoiding combining vegetables and meat in the same meal.

Perhaps this just reflects low inhake of vitamin c - which prevents nitrosamines from forming

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Confirmed in above paper:

Espejo-Herrera (2016) found when diets were high in vitamin C there was no statistically significant increase in risk of colon cancer from elevated nitrate levels in water

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Processed meat is one of very few foods on the WHOs list of things that almost definitely cause cancer.

Interesting that vitamin C protects against nitrates. Does that mean we should eat our (high in vitamin C) vegetables with meat?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Nitrates in drinking water are linked to cancer and birth defects. In high-enough concentrations it can trigger blue-baby syndrome, which can straight-up kill babies.