Sodium Nitrate
- What It’s Used In: Lunch Meat and Other Packaged Foods
- Problems Caused: Heart Disease
Sodium Nitrate is almost impossible to avoid. It is mostly in any packaged product, especially bacon, jerky, hot dogs, lunch meat, and much more. It acts as a food preservative, which tends to work out pretty well. The issue is that, due to our large overexposure to sodium nitrate, we’re likely to experience health complications from it. SN mostly affects our blood vessels, as it damages them and makes them more likely to harden or narrow. Thus causing various heart diseases. Some, such as the World Health Organization, have claimed sodium nitrates could be carcinogenic.