Sodium nitrite

Studies in people

• Concern

  Prostate cancer risk³

  In adults, high consumers of sodium nitrite from food additives had a higher prostate cancer risk.

• Benefit

  Dietary sources and heart⁵

  Most nitrate and nitrite we eat comes from vegetables, not additives, and may help the heart.

• Concern

  Bladder cancer risk⁸

  In people, eating more nitrite from processed meat was linked to a higher chance of bladder cancer.

Animal and lab studies only

• Concern

  Food poisoning toxin¹⁰

  Sodium nitrite made some food-poisoning bacteria make more of a toxin in lab studies, but not all strains.

• Benefit

  Stomach ulcers¹¹

  In animal studies, sodium nitrite changed a stomach protein and seemed to prevent ulcers.

• Concern

  Food allergy reactions¹²

  In animal studies, sodium nitrite made allergic reactions worse, with more symptoms and higher allergy markers in the blood.

Single cases of misuse or overdose

One person or one incident, such as an accidental overdose or a mistake in a kitchen or factory. They are real, but a single case does not show what happens at normal amounts, so the signal does not count them.

• Food poisoning deaths⁹

  A family got sick and one man died after eating homemade sausages with far too much sodium nitrite in them.

How it’s made and used

• Diet and body burden⁴

  In people, sodium nitrite in the diet adds only a small amount to the body's load.

• Exceeding recommended intake⁶

  Some Polish teens eating lots of meat products took in more sodium nitrite than the recommended daily limit.

• Exceeding daily intake limit⁷

  Some people, especially children, ate more sodium nitrite than the recommended daily limit.

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), 2002

  Acceptable daily intake: up to 0.07 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).