Eating more foods with nitrites or nitrates may increase risk for type 2 diabetes 

Adults who eat more foods that include added nitrites or nitrates have a higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes than those exposed to fewer of these compounds, according to findings published in PLOS Medicine. 

Bernard Srour

Mathilde Touvier

“These results provide a new piece of evidence in the context of current discussions regarding the need for a reduction of nitrite additive use in processed meats by the food industry and could support the need for better regulation of soil contamination by fertilizers,” Bernard Srour, PharmD, PhD, scientist, and Mathilde Touvier, PhD, research director of the nutritional epidemiology research team for INSERM, INRAE, at Sorbonne Paris Nord University in France, told Healio. “In the meantime, several public health authorities worldwide already recommend citizens to limit their consumption of foods containing controversial additives, including sodium nitrite.”