ArticleInternational journal of epidemiology2022
Nitrites and nitrates from food additives and natural sources and cancer risk: results from the NutriNet-Santé cohort.
Article in International journal of epidemiology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 52 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
52 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 114 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meat Consumption Associated with the Risk of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- The Association of Dietary Diabetes Risk Reduction Score and the Risk of Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Consumption of fast foods and ultra-processed foods and breast cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Global health research and policy · 2025Pooled it
- The Hidden Burden of Water-Binding Additives in Meat Products: Biochemical, Clinical, and Psychosocial Implications.Molecular nutrition & food research · 2026Review
- Exploring the associations between dietary nitrate and nitrite intake and markers of self-reported periodontal disease in the UK Biobank cohort.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Dietary nitrate drives gastritis by modulating gastric microbiota and metabolites.Cancer biology & medicine · 2026Article
- A Novel Dairy-Beetroot Powder: Microencapsulation Improves Stability and Sensory Qualities While Preserving Cardioprotective Bioactives.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Dietary Nitrate-Rich Vegetables as Natural Modulators of Health: Mechanisms and Benefits in Ageing Populations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Comparative Analysis of Food Additives in Products with and Without Added Sugar on the Polish Market.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- A comprehensive analysis reveals the molecular mechanisms linking preservatives to prostate cancer risk.Discover oncology · 2026Article
- Associations between preservative food additives and type 2 diabetes incidence in the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Intake of food additive preservatives and incidence of cancer: results from the NutriNet-Santé prospective cohort.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2026Observational
- ProteolyticFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Genetically proxied preference for savoury foods and breast cancer risk: a Mendelian randomisation study.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2026Article
- Does the definition of human ultra-processed foods apply to dog and cat foods? A review of pet food processing techniques, their impact on health, and a call for pet food processing classification.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- Review
- Dietary exposure to food additives in ultra-processed foods: implications for gut microbiome, metabolic health, and risk assessment.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- The associations of dietary exposure to selected food additives with dietary patterns and overweight.PloS one · 2026Article
- Food additive mixtures in French children and adults: the nationally representative Esteban study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Probiotic characteristics and safety evaluation of acid-tolerant lactic acid bacteria isolated from Suancai, a popular fermented vegetable in Northeast China.Folia microbiologica · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundNitrates and nitrites occur naturally in water and soil. They are also used as food additives (preservatives) in processed meats. They could play a role in the carcinogenicity of processed meat. The objective was to investigate the relationship between nitrate and nitrite intakes (natural food, water and food additive sources) and cancer risk in a large prospective cohort with detailed dietary assessment.
methodsOverall, 101 056 adults from the French NutriNet-Santé cohort (2009-ongoing, median follow-up 6.7 years) were included. Nitrites/nitrates exposure was evaluated using repeated 24-h dietary records, linked to a comprehensive composition database and accounting for commercial names/brands of industrial products. Associations with cancer risk were assessed using multi-adjusted Cox hazard models.
resultsIn total, 3311 incident cancer cases were diagnosed. Compared with non-consumers, high consumers of food additive nitrates had higher breast cancer risk [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.24 (95% CI 1.03-1.48), P = 0.02], more specifically for potassium nitrate. High consumers of food additive nitrites had higher prostate cancer risk [HR = 1.58 (1.14-2.18), P = 0.008], specifically for sodium nitrite. Although similar HRs were observed for colorectal cancer for additive nitrites [HR = 1.22 (0.85-1.75)] and nitrates [HR = 1.26 (0.90-1.76)], no association was detected, maybe due to limited statistical power for this cancer location. No association was observed for natural sources.
conclusionFood additive nitrates and nitrites were positively associated with breast and prostate cancer risks, respectively. Although these results need confirmation in other large-scale prospective studies, they provide new insights in a context of lively debate around the ban of these additives from the food industry.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.