There are better ways to lower blood pressure then to get cancer. Whole foods are not cancer-causing and Subway is not even close to whole foods. Any sandwich you buy from Subway is filled with garbage you don't want and don't need in your body.
I understand that bitching about chemicals on a bodybuilding board sounds ludicrous but I think you want your food to be pure to make up for the damage being done elsewhere.
Cancer is not just a "if you take nitrates you'll get cancer"; thats not how it works. Its quite a complex process which involves the "switching off" and mutation of certain genes which are generally due to viral issues (viruses inserting their genetic code into our chromosomes etc.).
A review I found a while ago;sounds promising
Food Chem Toxicol. 2012 Oct;50(10):3646-65. doi: 10.1016/j.fct.2012.07.062. Epub 2012 Aug 4.
Ingested nitrate and nitrite and stomach cancer risk: an updated review.
Bryan NS, Alexander DD, Coughlin JR, Milkowski AL, Boffetta P.
Source
Texas Therapeutics Institute, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
[email protected]
Abstract
Nitrite and nitrate are naturally occurring molecules in vegetables and also added to cured and processed meats to delay spoilage and pathogenic bacteria growth. Research over the past 15 years has led to a paradigm change in our ideas about health effects of both nitrite and nitrate.
Whereas, historically nitrite and nitrate were considered harmful food additives and listed as probable human carcinogens under conditions where endogenous nitrosation could take place, they are now considered by some as indispensible nutrients essential for cardiovascular health by promoting nitric oxide (NO) production. We provide an update to the literature and knowledge base concerning their safety. Most nitrite and nitrate exposure comes from naturally occurring and endogenous sources and part of the cell signaling effects of NO involve nitrosation. Nitrosation must now be considered broadly in terms of both S- and N-nitrosated species, since S-nitrosation is kinetically favored. Protein S-nitrosation is a significant part of the role of NO in cellular signal transduction and is involved in critical aspects of cardiovascular health. A critical review of the animal toxicology literature of nitrite indicates that in the absence of co-administration of a carcinogenic nitrosamine precursor, there is no evidence for carcinogenesis. Newly published prospective epidemiological cohort studies indicate that there is no association between estimated intake of nitrite and nitrate in the diet and stomach cancer.
This new and growing body of evidence calls for a reconsideration of nitrite and nitrate safety.
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
PMID: 22889895 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]