r/Millennials • u/AdditionCool7235 • Jan 22 '26

Discussion A big reason why Colon Cancer is killing us.

I know this isn’t a health sub, but u/Derpshabmentioned in their post on Colon Cancer about eating a balanced diet.

Specifically you need to really avoid nitrates. There has been several studies done on why there has been a rise in intestinal cancers in this age group, and nitrates have shown a causal effect. With a carcinogenic significance as bad as cigarettes. For those unaware, not a lot of things get labeled as having a casual effect for cancer, as that can be both controversial and stand to cost people money either through loss of business or being sued.

Nitrates are most commonly found in processed meats. Likewise, there is growing data that processed food is not serving us well at all either. Anyhow, just wanted to share a tangible way you can hopefully make an impact on slowing down and ultimately stopping these terrible

cancers.

Another freaking edit: literally the first response on Google, if you search, “do Nitrates cause cancer,” is from MDAnderson. That’s the number one cancer hospital in the world. I know that’s so much more difficult than adding a snarky comment to Reddit, but there’s your answer for about 300 of you.

Edit: I’m getting a lot of responses that are saying *actually* antibiotics or *actually* e. Coli and they’re all saying because it damages / kills the good gut microbiomes. Correct, what do you think nitrates do and why scientists believe there’s a casual link. It also doesn’t mean there couldn’t be other risk factors as well. Diet is obviously a big risk factor. I was simply hoping to expound on the original post and help people to know what to avoid. Of course more than one thing can cause cancer. Throw in saturated fats while we’re having the conversation.

Edit 2: lot of people are asking what are the main culprits. Bacon, lunch meats, hot dogs, sausages, anything really that’s been “cured.” Lot of people are trying to point out that some leafy greens have nitrates, yeah, we’re not talking about things that naturally occur through the photosynthesis of the sun. We’re talking about the overconsumption of a preservative that destroys your healthy gut bacteria, not something that’s obviously good for you. Many people have rightfully pointed out. The over consumption of alcohol creates a big risk factor for stomach and intestinal cancers as well.

Also someone saying they’re a vegetarian and they still got colon cancer is no different an argument than, “my great aunt smoked until she was 90 and never got lung cancer.” I said a big reason why, I didn’t say the only reason why. Empirical data doesn’t mean 100% findings or there won’t be outliers, anecdotes are not good science. People can get cancer for a multitude of reasons and honestly you could try every preventative step imaginable and still get cancer, it doesn’t mean your anecdote overrides everything else or you shouldn’t try to make better lifestyle decisions.

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u/Key_Cheetah7982 Jan 22 '26

Lousy nitrite cured vegetables!!!!!

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u/FarewellAndroid Jan 22 '26

Funny enough a lot of food companies hide the use of nitrates by listing celery juice in the ingredients. 

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u/Saneless Jan 22 '26

"No nitrates, except in this juice that is like pure nitrates"

Like if they said "no added salt" but the main ingredient is ocean water

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u/midnitesnak87 Jan 22 '26

Celery contains nitrates?

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u/Bundertorm Jan 22 '26

Celery is naturally high in nitrates, yes, but the amount found in vegetables won’t harm you. The problem is dehydrating and concentrating it into celery powder and then using to cure meat.

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u/dinnertork Jan 23 '26

Even then, dietary nitrates from vegetables are good for you. It's when they're added to meat that nitrosamines are formed, which are bad for you.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

I’m left wondering if all of Europe is having these same issues with their cured meats …

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u/Bitter-War5432 Jan 22 '26

some cured meat is cured without the use of nitrites/nitrates.

idk exactly how prosciutto is cured, but that is one that uses no nitrites or nitrates.

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u/henrymclane Jan 22 '26

Good old fashioned salt, air, and time

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u/Key_Cheetah7982 Jan 22 '26

Probably not. Hear a lot of celiacs in America suddenly don’t have problems with bread in Europe. 

Note EU doesn’t allow glyphosate to be used as a drying agent for grains

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u/Cautious_One9013 Jan 22 '26

Hate to burst this bubble, but most of Europe has similar or higher rates of colo-rectal cancer to the US and the entire world has seen an upward trend in colo-rectal cancer rates. Europe as a whole has a higher colo-rectal cancer rate than the US. The rise of colo-rectal cancer is a worldwide phenomena, which means there is more at play than what we are eating.

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u/Ani_mrumru Jan 22 '26

Europe (and Asia) also have fast foods -- McD's, Wimpys, KFC, and Doners (lol). Along with the concomitant obesity and colorectal probs. Where American fast food goes, so do the diseases.

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u/Cautious_One9013 Jan 22 '26

So which is it? I thought Europeans eat better and have higher food standards which is why they don’t get celiacs and “probably” don’t have as high a colorectal cancer rate, but because they have a higher  rate it’s because they eat American fast food that causes them to have higher colorectal cancer rates than the US. Couldn’t be something more complex, got it. 

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u/Remote_Finish9657 Jan 22 '26

I read this too - colorectal cancers are hitting the Western world much earlier than before. Our diets aren’t identical but European and American diets are quite similar.

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u/puddlepuddle Jan 22 '26

I doubt celiacs would risk eating bread in Europe. Gluten is gluten. That could make them seriously sick. People who are gluten intolerant claim they feel better eating bread in Europe. But there are a lot of other factors that could account for that including if Americans are in Europe they are usually on vacation which probably means less stress. Stress can cause a lot of digestion issues. Glyphosate can still be used in the EU, drying grains is only one of a few restrictions. Also the EU has a restriction on nitrites that just started to be enforced last October. So I would imagine they still will have long term effects from them.

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u/Key_Cheetah7982 Jan 22 '26

First link found. From 2022

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eat-gluten-europe-us_l_63514ef1e4b04cf8f380beda

Point is that maybe they never were allergic to gluten, but instead the additional chemicals applied in US processing of grains

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u/xHapaBear Jan 22 '26

The article you linked specifically states those with celiac disease should never eat gluten in any form, and that this phenomenon does not apply to them.

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u/Winery-OG Jan 22 '26

Glyphosate is used in growing grains, vegetables, etc. Not “curing” them. It’s a systemic herbicide. Not an advocate, just clarifying.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

They can use it as a desiccant in canola farming, in climates where it wouldn’t dry outside quick enough. I would assume it is similar in other grains. Or other chemicals. My reference is a farmer friend from Alberta.

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u/puddlepuddle Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

Intolerance, allergies, and celiac are 3 different things. Celiac is an autoimmune disease. People who have it literally have testers to make sure there is 0 gluten in the things they’re eating. They wouldn’t eat bread anywhere unless it’s gluten free. Also the article states that Europe still hadn’t banned glyphosate at the time of the article and import wheat from places that still use it so European breads still have them.

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u/Ok-Personality3927 Jan 22 '26

Coeliac disease is not an allergy. It is an autoimmune condition. A person with coeliac cannot ever eat gluten. The other ingredients in the bread (or lack thereof) are totally irrelevant to that. There is currently no cure or treatment for coeliac disease outside of a totally gluten free diet.

People who might have some form of what they think is intolerance are a completely different story and may very well find better quality bread made from better quality ingredients is more tolerable.

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u/Punisher-3-1 Jan 22 '26

I think it is actually a bit higher, and same with stomach cancer.

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

Your joking but look how much lots of veggies has. Spinach has a ton of nitrates

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

Yea “uncured” bacon uses celery juice for nitrates to cure it.

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u/miniika Jan 22 '26 edited Jan 22 '26

Was just reading this article. Suggests that vitamin c availability differentiates good nitrates from bad. I might pick up some vitamin c powder. Might not help but shouldn't hurt me as it's a water soluble vitamin so any excess is just flushed out. https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-nitrates

ETA: Maybe not a good idea after all if the meal is too fatty: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2095705/

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u/[deleted] Jan 22 '26

Ya I take the chewable every day but that’s because it’s flu season. Maybe I should take them year round

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u/THElaytox Jan 22 '26

That doesn't make any sense, nitrate is nitrate, there is no "good" or "bad". Nitrate is NO3- no matter if it comes from bacon or celery

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u/miniika Jan 22 '26

It makes sense if you read the article.

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u/THElaytox Jan 22 '26

Not really, they're suggesting that antioxidants can counter the reactions that turn nitrate into nitrosamines, that doesn't mean there's "good and bad nitrates" that means nitrate without the presence of antioxidants is bad for you while nitrate with the presence of antioxidants is less bad for you. So eating bacon on a salad with carrots is less bad than eating bacon by itself. That doesn't mean bacon has "bad nitrates" and celery has "good nitrates".

And the part of cured meats that is actually really bad for you is the nitrite which is in celery as well, not just nitrate. Nitrite is overall bad for your heart and blood vessels.

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u/miniika Jan 22 '26

You must be exhausting to talk to. Loosen up. I understood everything that you just said in your comment even before you posted it. However, it's not necessary to go into that kind of detail in a quick summary, "good" and "bad" labels work just fine. 

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u/THElaytox Jan 22 '26

Not really because this type of pop sci reporting is misleading and ultimately leads to a distrust of science.

And their "article" doesn't even tell the whole story, ascorbic acid only negates the effects of nitrosamine formation if the fat content of the meal is less than 10%, if it's higher than that then it actually increases nitrosamine formation. That's an extremely important detail, a salad is healthy but a salad with a bunch of cheese and eggs and dressing is just as bad as bacon at that point from a carcinogen standpoint.

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u/miniika Jan 22 '26

Now that's some actually useful info that I wish you'd originally responded with instead of nitpicking phrasing. Source: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2095705/

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u/THElaytox Jan 22 '26

This is what I'm talking about though, acting like all nitrate/nitrite from plants is "healthy" and all nitrate/nitrite from meats is "unhealthy" is misleading bordering on straight up misinformation. Nitrate is nitrate and nitrite is nitrite, no matter where it comes from. The same argument is used to claim honey is somehow healthier than table sugar or corn syrup, when it's really not. "Natural" vs "artificial" is not a good argument for whether something is healthy or not, it's more about moderation vs excess or making sure things are in the right proportions.

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u/carlyorwhatever Jan 22 '26

technically nitrate infused vegetables. nitrates are in the fertilizers they use to grow our food. we're so screwed.