He responded by alluding to 23 factors he says bear on one's ability to lengthen one's healthiness. The potassium and sodium salts of nitrate and nitrite, a nitrate derivative, are common ingredients of meat-preservative mixtures. Nitrosamines, some of which are carcinogens, can develop in the stomach from nitrites.
Most dietary nitrate comes from vegetables.
In the United States, where the addition of vitamin C to foods processed with salts of nitrate or nitrite is a legal requirement, nitrates and nitrite food additives do not significantly contribute to cancer risk. As a food additive accompanying such compounds, vitamin C tends to prevent the development of nitrosamines from nitrites. In the United States, tobacco use, particularly cigarette smoking, is the leading cause of preventable premature death. Other major causes of preventable premature death in the United States include alcohol abuse, inadequate control of elevated blood pressure, inappropriate medical treatment, and reckless motoring. Well, perhaps we shouldn't be hard on him.