Recent study has discovered that the risk of developing leukemia for children who eat more than 12 hot dogs a month is 9 times higher than those who don’t. Also, this study has discovered that the unborn babies of women who eat just one hot dog a week have an increased risk of developing brain tumor.
What makes hot dogs so harmful?
Food experts explained that during the processing of meat in order to produce hot dogs the nitrates turn into nitrites which then react with amines which are naturally-occurring ingredients of protein. This way nitrosamines are formed which are harmful compounds that cause cancer. These compounds can either form in the treated meat or in the digestive tract.
Additional studies have linked nitrites with the formation of stomach cancer and other studies have also proved the role of nitrites in formation of esophagus cancer. Scientists have also found evidence that nitrites can also contribute in formation of brain or thyroid cancer; however they still haven’t determined this in a cancer patient.
Nitrites are considered a potential carcinogen by The WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment considers them a carcinogen.
Note: Some foods such as spinach or other leafy green contain large amounts of nitrates. Still, studies have not yet connected nitrate from natural food with stomach cancer, but they have neither confirmed that there is a reduced risk.