Some good press for sodium nitrite

by Nick Vagnoni, Posted Feb 2nd 2006 @ 6:59PM

Back in September, I did a post about how research was being done on the medical applications of sodium nitrite—yeah, the hot dog preservative. Along with previous uses for treating sickle-cell anemia, heart attacks and brain aneurysms, a new study published in the February edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggests that the preservative might prove useful in treating cystic fibrosis. Sufferers of the disease are prone to build-ups of mucus in their lungs. The bacteria that grows in this mucus and eventually damages the airways has a weakness to sodium nitrite. In a recent article, one researcher regarded the oft-maligned preservative as the "Achilles' heel" of the bacteria laden mucus. Of course, more research is needed before the treatment can be widely applied to cystic fibrosis sufferers.

Filed Under: Science, Ingredients
Tags: beef, cystic fibrosis, CysticFibrosis, hot dogs, HotDogs, pork, preservative, sodium nitrite