Sodium nitrate

Studies in people

• Benefit

  Blood pressure and metabolism³

  In animal and human studies, nitrate lowered blood pressure and improved blood sugar handling.

Animal and lab studies only

• Concern

  Stomach inflammation⁵

  In mice, a high-sodium-nitrate diet caused stomach inflammation and changed stomach bacteria.

Found in some samples or products

These come from where it was grown, how it was processed or cooked, or what it was made into. They are not about the ingredient itself, so the signal does not count them.

• Young children's nitrite intake⁴

  In Swedish children, nitrate from food may turn into nitrite, and about 12% of 4-year-olds got more nitrite than advised.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Expert panels that weigh all the research. Shown for context: the signal at the top does not count them. IARC rates whether something can cause cancer at all, not how likely it is at the amounts in food.

• UN and WHO food additive experts (JECFA), 1995

  Acceptable daily intake: up to 3.7 mg per kg of body weight.

• WHO cancer agency (IARC), 2006

  For nitrate or nitrite eaten under conditions that form nitroso compounds in the body: probably causes cancer in people (Group 2A).