Hi, Loren,

I apologize for e-mailing you on such a trivial question. However, what do you think of
lunch meats - like thinly sliced turkey, chicken (not the bologna or hot dogs--junk!).
These make for convenient protein for salads. How about turkey bacon? Are you
concerned re the nitrate content, or other carcinogens?
Thanks for your time.
Pam
Pamela Abrams, MD
90 Health Park Drive, #260
Louisville, CO 80027
Hi Pam,
This is a very good question indeed, and cannot be simply answered without exploring a
number of nutritional issues. Nevertheless, my initial approach would be to apply the
evolutionary template which clearly indicates our hunter gatherer ancestors would have
never consumed processed, cured or canned meats (1). Their staples were the fresh
meats, flesh and organs of wild animals along with gathered wild plant foods (2).
Common additives to canned, cured and processed meats include:
Salt, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose (glucose), sucrose (table sugar),
modified food starch (made from wheat, corn, potatoes, soy, etc ) sodium lactate,
potassium lactate, calcium sulfate, BHA, BHT, citric acid, propyl gallate, silicon dioxide,
vinegar, sodium nitrite, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrite, potassium nitrate, sodium
tripolyphosphate, hexametaphosphate, acid pyrophosphate, orthophosphates,
erythorbate, vitamin C, vitamin E, oleoresins, spices, monosodium glutamate (MSG),
sodium diacetate, bromelin, carrageenan, ficin, gelatin, hydrolyzed proteins (wheat, soy,
milk), papain, sodium caseinate, dried whey.
Read the labels of most lunch meats, processed meats, canned meats, sausages, salamis
and bacon, and you will invariably find numerous additives listed above.

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Clearly refined sugars, salt, soy, dairy and cereals added to processed meats are not
Paleo ingredients. Many other compounds in this list are added to prevent food borne
illnesses, bacterial contamination, and spoilage. Prominent in these functions are added
nitrites and nitrates (3). We all know that fresh, raw meats rapidly spoil and can cause
illness, gastric distress and diarrhea if left unrefrigerated at room temperatures for long
periods. So this fact alone should tip you off to potential health hazards associated with
consumption of processed meats, which typically dont spoil at room temperatures
because of their chemical additives. If the chemicals in these meats are bad for
bacteria, they just might be bad for our bodys cells as well. Before I get into nitrite
and nitrate health concerns, lets talk about more wide-ranging nutritional issues
involving consumption of processed meats.
Unless you can find a supplier who manufactures their processed meats from wild game
or grass-fed animals, any processed meat you consume originates mainly from feed lot
animals eating virtually nothing but grains (corn primarily) before they are slaughtered.
As my research group and I have previously pointed out (4, 5), this practice produces
inferior meat with an unnatural fatty acid balance characterized by high omega 6 fatty
acids, low omega 3 fatty acids, a low protein content, a high fat content and many other
important nutritional shortcomings (6). So, with almost all processed meats, weve got a
nutritionally inferior product to start with even before it is transformed into hams, bacon,
lunch meats, bologna, hot dogs, salamis, sausages, deli meats, canned spam, Vienna
sausages, etc.
Feed lot produced animals whether cattle, hogs, chickens, or turkeys are invariably
exposed to pesticides (7, 8), or are deliberately administered antibiotics (9), and
hormones (10-12); all of which may ultimately find their way into our food supply.
Virtually all feed lot cattle in the U.S. are implanted with estrogenic hormones in their
ears to promote rapid growth and weight gain. Although the jury is still out, exposure to
these hormones may compromise our health (10-12). Hence, most processed meats
should be avoided on at least one level because they are significant dietary sources of
pesticides, antibiotics and hormones which have the potential to disrupt our health. In
contrast, grass produced or free ranging animals are not fed cereal grains, thereby
potentially reducing pesticide exposure. Further, most grass fed animals are never given
hormones to increase their growth rate and rarely are routinely administered antibiotics.
Almost all processed meats typically are cooked for long periods, frequently at high
temperatures. Cooking meats in this manner produces at least two cancer causing
compounds: 1) heterocyclic amines (HCAs) and 2) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs) (13). Further, consumption of cooked, canned and cured meats causes high

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levels of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) to accumulate in the bloodstream (14).
As AGEs build up in higher and higher concentrations in the blood they increase the risk
for heart disease (15), cancer (16) and inflammation (17), a process that underlies
virtually all chronic disease. If these events werent enough to make you shy away from
eating these adulterated meats, they are also concentrated sources of oxidized
cholesterol (18), a potent compound known to promote artery clogging or atherosclerosis
(19).
One of the original reasons scientists advised us to limit consumption of processed
meats was because of their high concentration of nitrites and nitrates. These chemicals
are added to salami, lunch meats, bacon, sausages and other processed meats because
they inhibit bacteria which cause food borne illnesses while also enhancing the color and
flavor of processed meats (20). Many early scientific studies examining dietary nitrites
and nitrates suggested that the metabolism of these compounds in our bodies produced
potent cancer causing chemical called nitrosamines. Hence, consumers were advised
not to eat processed meats containing nitrites or nitrates (20). This viewpoint has been
challenged in the past decade by a number of researchers who suggest that dietary
nitrites and nitrates are actually protective against cancer, heart disease and other
illnesses (20-23). In the body, these compounds are metabolized to nitric oxide, a
chemical which promotes cardiovascular health and has many other therapeutic effects
(21-23).
In the U.S. diet, nitrates and nitrites are not only found as additives in processed meats,
but rather their greatest dietary source comes from fresh fruits and vegetables (20, 22)
which are protective for cardiovascular disease, cancer and other illnesses. Hence, the
available evidence suggests that the cancer causing effects of processed meats stems
not from their nitrite or nitrate additives, but rather from HCA, PAH or other chemicals
added to them during processing.
The scientific data showing that consumption of processed meats has multiple adverse
health effects is persuasive, unambiguous and overwhelming (24, 25 ). These facts are
not surprising when considered in the evolutionary light. Our hunter gatherer ancestors
had practically no evolutionary experience with these Johnnie come lately foods, and
consequently our physiological and metabolic systems have had virtually no time to
overcome these food borne toxins with genetic adaptations. I believe that consumption
of fresh, grass produced meats under the context of a diet high in fruits and veggies (i.e.
The Paleo Diet) will reduce your risk for all chronic diseases that plague western
societies.

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References
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