Nitrite:
Nitrite, a kind of inorganic compounds. Mainly refers to sodium nitrite, which is white to light yellow powder or granular, slightly salty and easily soluble in water.
Nitrate and nitrite exist widely in human environment and are the most common nitrogen-containing compounds in nature. Nitrate in human body can be reduced to nitrite and precursor of N- nitroso compound under the action of microorganisms.
The appearance and taste are similar to salt, and it is widely used in industry and construction, and it is also allowed to be used as a chromogenic agent in meat products in limited quantities. The probability of food poisoning caused by nitrite is high.
Eating 0.3 ~ 0.5g of nitrite can cause poisoning, and 3g can cause death.
Toxic hazard:
Infantile methemoglobinemia (also known as Orthomethemoglobinemia): Excessive nitrate intake can induce infant methemoglobinemia. Because a large amount of nitrite in human body combines with hemoglobin in blood, the content of methemoglobineincreases. Because methemoglobinecannot combine with oxygen, people are deprived of oxygen, and the clinical manifestations are cyanosis of lips and nails, purple spots on skin and other hypoxia symptoms, which can lead to death. It often occurs in areas with high nitrate content in drinking water, especially in infants.
Infant congenital malformation: nitrite can enter the fetus through the placenta, and infants within 6 months are particularly sensitive to nitrate, which has teratogenic effect on the fetus.
Goiter: Some studies believe that high nitrate intake can reduce the digestion and absorption of iodine, which leads to goiter, but whether nitrate is the direct cause of goiter remains to be further verified.
Cancer: When nitrite is used to develop color, nitrite reacts with amine in meat to generate nitroso compounds, or it is converted into nitrosamine in acidic environment in intestine. These nitroso compounds are carcinogenic factors.