Kamisama - 2-5-2005 at 08:31
Why does Atkin's say it's bad for you when you diet?
I read that it has to do with bringing down the immunity system within a person.
Is that a reason? Are there other reasons?
[Edited on 2-5-2005 by Kamisama]
Esplosivo - 2-5-2005 at 08:37
Nitrates/Nitrites are suspected to be carcinogens, especially the nitrites which can act as carcinogens with chronic exposure. Hope this helps.
chemoleo - 2-5-2005 at 09:07
From what I remember, nitrites cause deamidation of cytosine to uracil, so essentially it causes the appearance of uracil in DNA (which normally is
only found in RNA), which induces point mutations.
For that reason I try to avoid eating too much bacon etc.
Esplosivo - 2-5-2005 at 12:47
If the conversion is from cytosine to uracil it will result in some change in the DNA winding structure as well. Normally cytosine pairs up with
guanine, whereas thymine in DNA or uracil in RNA pair up with adenine. When uracil is paired with guanine a structural change will surely occur in the
conformation of the DNA strand. Interesting...
BromicAcid - 2-5-2005 at 13:01
Nitrites can also be converted in the body to nitrosamines which are fairly toxic.
chemoleo - 2-5-2005 at 13:18
Yes.
Have a look at the search answers in pubmed#:
It appears taht this reaction does not occur with DNA on its own, but that it needs the cellular context alongside it.
I.e.
Nitrite-induced deamination and hypochlorite-induced oxidation of DNA in intact human respiratory tract epithelial cells, first ref.
Kamisama - 2-5-2005 at 14:11
Bacon and corned beef seemingly creates a mutation within the human DNA. This is actually very interesting. Does the gene mutation pass on to
offspring in theory?
Darkblade48 - 2-5-2005 at 16:56
Provided that the mutation does not occur in the gametes, then the mutation will not pass on to the progeny of the parent with the mutation.
sparkgap - 3-5-2005 at 20:33
Another danger not mentioned above is that high concentrations of these ions tend to cause production of methemoglobin. It's like hemoglobin, but
the iron atom is in the +3 oxidation state instead of its normal +2 oxidation state. Needless to say, this can be life threatening if much of the
hemoglobin in the blood is thus converted. That is why indulgence in cured meats should be extremely limited.
sparky (^_°)
Edward Elric - 4-5-2005 at 08:55
Looks like i'm going to be sticking to Eggs and salsa for breakfast. Maybe i'll just drink the egg.
Doon doo doo doon doon dooon doooooon..
*deep* doon dooon dooooooooooon..*deep*
i'm king of the world!!
chemoleo - 4-5-2005 at 09:43
You won't be king much longer if you keep posting crap like that.
Pyridinium - 6-6-2005 at 08:35
N-nitroso compounds (N-nitrosamines) formed from eating nitrite-cured meats were said to turn into alkylating agents via enzymatic action. These
would then alkylate DNA bases. I don't know if this theory proved true or not, but it sounds good.
N-nitrosamine formation appears favorable either at very low or very high pH ranges (relatively speaking, for biological systems).
See Carcinogenesis 14: 2547-2551 (1993).
You can get the abstract for that paper online via google.