Can eating too many hot dogs contribute to colon cancer?
That’s what Sidney Mirvish, Ph.D., a professor in the Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, would like to know.
The culprit, said Dr. Mirvish, is sodium nitrite used as a preservative in processed meats.
The preservative leads to the formation of nitrosamines, or NOCs.
It is these NOCs that concern Dr. Mirvish.
“There is some indication that these compounds are harmful,” he said, “because they cause mutations in bacteria and experiments on mice show that the NOC compounds actually get to the colon.”
If the compounds stay in the colon and are absorbed, then they could contribute to cancer of the colon.
Dr. Mirvish said he found evidence of increased amounts of NOCs in the feces of mice fed a diet containing hot dogs.
“The level of these NOCs varied a lot in different brands of hot dogs,” he said.
Even though he has found indications that, if left in the colon, the NOCs could prove harmful, there is no direct evidence yet to support his theory.
In the end, if it is found that eating processed meats such as hot dogs, bologna and sausages is harmful then “we may need to change the manufacturing process of nitrite-preserved meat so less of these NOCs are produced,” Dr. Mirvish said.
Dr. Mirvish’s research was published earlier this summer in the American Institute for Cancer Research newsletter.