In the 1950s, nitrates preservative used in processed meats and occurring naturally in green foods were linked to stomach cancer. More recently, biologists are claiming a positive role for dietary nitrates. Concerns were first raised when high doses of a nitrate compound commonly present in the stomach were found to cause cancer in laboratory rats. But the findings of this early study could not be consistently repeated, and the results of a great many subsequent epidemiological studies found no link between nitrates and human stomach cancer. The discovery of a positive role began with the realization that our stomachs hold large amounts of nitrate oxide and it was proposed that this agent may be helping to kill bacteria in our food such as E. coli. Stomach acid has for decades been considered the bodys main means of killing dangerous germs in our diet. But it was found that stomach acid and nitrate oxide when mixed together killed such germs much more quickly.
Question: Dietary nitrate, far from being a risk to health, is in fact an important natural defence against infections.
Options:
A. true
B. false
C. uncertain
Answer: A