Epilogue: Nitrite, Nitric Oxide, and the Misguided War on Chemistry

By Eben van Tonder, 12 September 2025

The Shield as a Signpost of Balance

The very existence of the body’s six shields tells us something fundamental: the body is built to live with risk. Proteins must be digested; nitrite, present from diet and saliva, must be managed. On their own, protein breakdown products and nitrite are harmless. Yet when they meet in the acidic stomach, chemistry opens the possibility of forming nitrosamines.

Nature’s solution was not to avoid nitrite — but to build shields that prevent its misuse and channel it into benefit. Vitamin C, polyphenols, mucus, the microbiome, nitric oxide, antioxidants, and systemic detoxification together ensure that nitrite is transformed into life-giving nitric oxide (NO) instead of carcinogens. NO regulates blood pressure, defends against microbes, and maintains vascular health (Lundberg & Weitzberg 2013).

If nitrite were inherently toxic, evolution would have excluded it. Instead, we secrete it in saliva, concentrate it in gastric juice, and rely on it to generate NO — a fact that shows the hysteria against nitrites is scientifically incoherent. It is as senseless as saying: do not eat food, because it may carry bacteria; do not eat plants, because they contain toxins. Life is chemistry at the edge of risk. The stomach’s shields prove that the strategy is not avoidance but management.

The Real Rise in Colon Cancer

Blaming nitrites for modern cancer trends ignores the obvious. Colorectal cancer has risen most sharply in societies where obesity has increased, fast food intake has escalated, and physical activity has declined.

Epidemiological studies consistently show overweight and sedentary lifestyle as major risk factors for colorectal cancer (World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research 2018). Giovannucci (2001) reported that physical inactivity and obesity account for up to 25–30% of colon cancer cases. Larsson & Wolk (2006) confirmed that high BMI is strongly correlated with colon cancer incidence. Sedentary lifestyle was linked to increased colorectal cancer risk by up to 40%, while regular activity reduced it substantially (Wolin et al. 2009).

Why, then, do we not classify obesity or lack of exercise as carcinogenic in the same way nitrites are demonised? The numbers are clear: the lifestyle epidemic is far deadlier than nitrite chemistry.

The Cost of Misjudgment

The war against nitrites has blinded us to their physiological importance. Nitric oxide (NO), formed from dietary nitrate and nitrite, is essential for vasodilation and blood pressure control (Kapil et al. 2010), immune defence against pathogens (Benjamin et al. 1994), and mitochondrial efficiency and exercise performance (Larsen et al. 2007).

Suppression of nitrite in food, and fear-driven avoidance, may have deprived populations of dietary sources of nitrate/nitrite that support cardiovascular health. Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of global death (WHO 2023). Nitric oxide deficiency is implicated in hypertension, atherosclerosis, and stroke. Millions of premature deaths annually are linked to cardiovascular disease that could, in part, be mitigated by dietary nitrate/nitrite intake (Lundberg et al. 2011). By focusing on nitrites as villains, public health has missed the opportunity to highlight the real killers: obesity, inactivity, ultra-processed fast foods, and sleep/stress dysregulation.

The suffering inflicted by this misjudgement is vast — countless strokes, heart attacks, and cancers worsened by ignoring NO biology in favour of simplistic demonisation.

A Call for Intelligence

The epilogue to the Shields of the Stomach is not resignation but appeal. We must replace hysteria with intelligence. Nitrite and nitrate must be recognised as essential to the nitrogen cycle of the human body. Shields should be understood not as proof of danger, but as design for balance. Cancer prevention should be refocused on obesity, inactivity, diet quality, and lifestyle, where the evidence is overwhelming. Nuance must be embraced: nitrite can form harmful compounds, but with shields intact it is the source of one of the body’s most vital molecules.

The cost of fear-driven misjudgement has been decades of misplaced focus, policy mistakes, and missed opportunities for better health. The future requires a shift from prohibition to balance, from hysteria to science, from fear to strategy.

A series about the natural defence of the body, which makes nitrosamine formation highly unlikely in the body.

Eine Serie über die natürlichen Abwehrmechanismen des Körpers, die die Bildung von Nitrosaminen im Körper höchst unwahrscheinlich machen.

Link to all my work on meat curing and human health. / Link zu all meinen Arbeiten über Fleischpökelung und menschliche Gesundheit.

References

  • Benjamin, N., et al. (1994). Stomach NO synthesis. Nature, 368, 502.
  • Giovannucci, E. (2001). Obesity, physical activity, and cancer. Nutrition, 17(9), 768–771.
  • Kapil, V., et al. (2010). Inorganic nitrate supplementation lowers blood pressure in humans: role for nitrite-derived NO. Hypertension, 56(2), 274–281.
  • Larsen, F. J., et al. (2007). Effects of dietary nitrate on oxygen cost during exercise. Acta Physiologica, 191(1), 59–66.
  • Larsson, S. C., & Wolk, A. (2006). Obesity and colon and rectal cancer risk: a meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 83(2), 359–366.
  • Lundberg, J. O., & Weitzberg, E. (2013). Biology of nitrogen oxides in the gastrointestinal tract. Gut, 62(4), 616–629.
  • Lundberg, J. O., Carlström, M., & Weitzberg, E. (2011). Metabolic effects of dietary nitrate in health and disease. Cell Metabolism, 13(2), 149–159.
  • Wolin, K. Y., Yan, Y., Colditz, G. A., & Giovannucci, E. L. (2009). Physical activity and colon cancer prevention: a meta-analysis. British Journal of Cancer, 100(4), 611–616.
  • World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute for Cancer Research (2018). Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a Global Perspective.