Do nitrites (not nitrates) deserve the bad rep?

[thescience]

any search for nitrites (not nitrates) comes up with vague warnings about its danger. if I understand it correctly, you don't get nitric oxide or vasodialation until, perchance, nitrate consumption (25% or less depending) is converted by a certain species of bodily bacteria into nitrite. This begs the question, why not skip the middle man and go straight for the nitrite? any thoughts on this or grave warnings against this are certainly welcome in this thread. I just cant help but wonder if people haven't been taking nitrites already. Conversely, ive come across articles that talk about a runner who took a capsule of nitrite thinking it was nitrate and consequently died instantly. now, I personally don't believe that, given the toxicity dose stated on Wikipedia that mustve been an enormous capsule. on the other side I came across an article stating it's use in medicine: "In medicine, proper doses of sodium nitrite can function as a bronchodilator, an intestinal relaxant, and even as an antidote to some poisons such as cyanide and hydrogen sulfide. It has also been used to dilate blood vessels and to treat certain lung disorders in infants. " now that hardly sounds like the deadly substance described in various readings. so the question is, why are supplement companies steering clear of it? has anyone used nitrites?

 

[criticalbench]

Interesting, no clue.

You said for pulmonary function in infants? I work in a level III B NICU, just about the highest level and we use Nitric Oxide, in a gaseous form all the time for persistent pulmonary hypertension as it functions as a direct pulmonary vasodilator in concentrations of 20-40ppm. Never heard of the word Nitrite mentioned though.

Mike

 

[thescience]

yeah, nitric oxide would be a better choice, since nitrites don't do us any good until they are converted to nitric oxide.I think better or at least alternate methods have been developed for treating cyanide poison as well. the quote on medicinal use came from this article: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sodium-nitrite.htm the part that baffles me is that nitrites are in food, usp FOOD GRADE sodium nitrite is for sale, and yet the container has a skull and crossbones on it.

 

[mr.cooper69]

yeah, nitric oxide would be a better choice, since nitrites don't do us any good until they are converted to nitric oxide.I think better or at least alternate methods have been developed for treating cyanide poison as well. the quote on medicinal use came from this article: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sodium-nitrite.htm the part that baffles me is that nitrites are in food, usp FOOD GRADE sodium nitrite is for sale, and yet the container has a skull and crossbones on it.

Everything is dose and kinetic dependent. Nitrates are much safer if used supplementally, and there's really no reason to use nitrite, nor would I personally do it.

 

[thescience]

Everything is dose and kinetic dependent. Nitrates are much safer if used supplementally, and there's really no reason to use nitrite, nor would I personally do it.

you think it would kill someone if they took it? are nitrites less safe due to more vasodilation at lower dosage? the line of thinking im on stems from various people who either don't respond well to nitrates or else talk about some kind of decreased response with continues usage. ive come across writings that say high protein diets kill/reduce beneficial bacteria, which may conceivably reduce nitrate to nitrite conversion. also, in the case of sodium nitrite, it would be possible to consume a much smaller amount of sodium while reaping the full vasodilation effects. Also, I took a spinach powder at the equivalent of 180g's a day; this had a very unique pump that I would differentiate from a supplemental nitrate pump. as the stuff is intolerable, I cant help but wonder if that effect is due to the many components of spinach or to its nitrite content. finally, I have a friend with some kind of asmha and blood pressure problems. she responded extremely well to potassium nitrate, but got the runs from the potassium. actually, she's tried other potassiums and has had great improvements from them as well, but the tolerability has always been the issue that ended everything. this guy at the vitaminshop said potassium can be really hard to tolerate and gives a lot of people the runs. anyway, if say 600mg of sodium nitrate is what people would take, do you think 150mg of usp food grade sodium nitrite (at 25% the dose) would pose any known threat to humans beside potential hypotension? I mean, has anyone ever tried? from what I understand, the stuff starts oxidizing slowly the minute it hits oxygen, which I guess would make it hard to sell as a supplement, since people wouldn't necessarily get what they think they are getting

 

[thescience]

http://www.naturalnews.com/023873_sodium_meat_nitrite.html

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fda-approves-sodium-nitrite-injection-110000589.html

 

[thescience]

well, I think the article I posted about the woman who poisoned someone with it doesn't add up. they said the stuff diminishes the oxygen in the body, but everything I read says it just makes the body perform better with less oxygen. again, the woman who said she was poisoned claimed to have flu like symptoms. I could see someone feeling tired with a headache due to low blood pressure, but I would ntdescribe that as flu-like.