My Across the Pond TV guest Damian Buckley, from New Zealand, made a statement about a part of New Zealand where “nitrate contamination” was so great regulators would not let farmers farm it anymore.
If you want to do something crazy, use your favorite search engine and search the vegetables highest in nitrates. If you do that, you will find about 1/3 of the query will provide suggestions on vegetables to avoid and other 2/3 on vegetables you need in your diet every day because of their nitric oxide benefits. In complete disclosure, I have taken a nitric oxide (N1O1.com) supplement daily for the past 19 years and don’t want to be without it.
Before I get into the proof of the lie that we have been living since 1962, let’s look at this piece from Science Diet that speaks about a study conducted on Iranians looking at the increased nitrate level in vegetables:
Studies also reveal the plausible health benefits and preventive effects of high nitrate/nitrite foods against cardiovascular disease (Gilchrist and Benjamin, 2010; Machha and Schechter, 2012). Therefore, limit regulations on nitrate/nitrite intakes have already been challenged, and it has been pointed out that the evidence for adverse effects of nitrate is inconsistent and nitrate may actually be beneficial (Butler and Feelisch, 2008; Katan, 2009).
All public water must be below 10 parts per million to be considered safe. The word is that if water was higher in nitrates, it could cause blue baby syndrome. This gets very interesting and the origins trace back to 1944.
The “Midwestern” Phenomenon: In the mid-1940s, a separate type of blue baby syndrome emerged in the American Midwest, where infants developed cyanosis after being fed formula made with well water high in nitrates. This led to the discovery of infant methemoglobinemia, where nitrates turn hemoglobin into a form that cannot bind oxygen.
I could not find any studies indicating that nitrates are actually responsible. With that said, an “Advisory Panel” was formed and in 1962. Surgeon General Luther Terry said this: “These Standards supersede the Public Health Service Drinking Water Standards-1946, as amended in 1956. The new Standards were developed with the assistance of an Advisory Committee appointed by the Public Health Service to revise the Standards of 1946.”
Today, 80 years later, the same standards of 10 ppm still stand as the definition of contaminated water. In fact, it is worse than that. Governments around the world are beginning to demand the growing of food with a fraction of or zero nitrogen fertilizers. Has anyone checked on the atmosphere lately? It turns out that God created the earth’s atmosphere to be 78% nitrogen. Mother’s breast milk is also above the federal government’s acceptable level for water. In fact, in the first 30 days after birth, the nitrate level of human breastmilk runs at 14 to 18 ppm.
Let’s go back to where I started. It appears that about the same time the United States was establishing “safe” nitrate levels for drinking water, the whole world just adopted the same threshold without any studies to prove what number was actually valid and safe.
Since I witnessed Dr. Nathan Bryan walk through how essential dietary nitrates are for life 19 years ago, I have been saying the day is coming when we will see marketing campaigns that promote “enhanced with nitrates” to improve human health. It seems I was right because now that governments are talking about banning nitrates as a crop fertilizer, so it is getting intense.
Furthermore, if you look with a bit of common sense, you will see all the vegetables they want us to eat like celery, spinach, beets, and others have high nitrate levels. In fact, if you can still find the rare food package that brags about “no nitrate added,” the ingredient list will likely contain celery extract powder. Why? Because celery has a tremendous amount of nitrate, a leading essential molecule of nitric oxide.
Vegetables, fruits, meat and dairy products, eggs, fish, and animal fats are all healthy and naturally good for human consumption, brain development and life. Let’s get back to raising our own food, bartering with neighbors and listening to the ways of the elder generations who did food the right way. Listen to your mother – eat your vegetables!
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth-generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show “Loos Tales” and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
PHOTO: Healthy eating and balanced nutrition ingredients clean food. (Adobe Stock │ #319077519 – kucherav)
