Introduction

What's This I Hear About Hot Dogs and Cancer?

The Cancer Project, an affiliate of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, petitioned the USDA last year to convince them to ban hot dogs from school lunches. They also ran a TV ad to scare the public away from hot dogs, saying that feeding hot dogs to your children will give them cancer:

Should we be worried? Here's the truth:

• None of the children in the ad have cancer, they are paid actors
• Scientific research actually shows there is no increased risk of cancer associated with processed meats such as hot dogs
• The preservatives in hot dogs blamed for causing cancer have proven effective in preventing botulism
• Cancer risks associated with processed meats are mild compared to the risk of food-borne illness when raw meat is used in cafeteria kitchens

The issue goes beyond that of health to one of freedom. The Cancer Project considers a ban of processed meat in school lunch a stepping stone toward eliminating hot dogs from the diet of all Americans, and have even filed lawsuits to have warning labels similar to that of cigarettes placed on the packaging of hot dogs.

The purpose of this website is to cut through the rhetoric and expose the facts of the issue so you can make an informed decision regarding your child's nutrition. If you feel hot dogs are unhealthy, petition your school locally to make changes in the lunch menu or send your kid to school with a healthy sack lunch. Don't let the government dictate what we as a nation are allowed to eat.

Hot Dog Facts

Some interesting facts about hot dogs in America:

• 730 million packages of hot dogs were consumed in 2008 (this doesn't even include Wal-Mart!)
• $3.4 billion were spent in 2008 on hot dogs
• New York City leads the nation, spending over $100 billion on hot dogs in 2008
• The average American consumes about 25 hot dogs per year
• About 800 hot dogs are eaten every second on Labor Day
• Contrary to popular belief, most hot dogs contain actual meat trimmings of pork or beef. If they contain extras such as liver or snout, it is noted on the label as "byproducts"
• Babe Ruth was voted most likely current or former baseball player to win a hot dog eating contest
• The world's biggest hot dog was made for the 1996 Olympics, and was 1,996 feet long
• Adults prefer mustard on their hot dogs, while children prefer ketchup
• Takeru Kobayashi holds the world record for eating 53 1/2 hot dogs in twelve minutes

The popularity of hot dogs makes any legitimate health concern worth a look.

The Claim

Last year The Cancer Project petitioned the USDA, claiming that processed meats such as hot dogs increase the risk of cancer. While the science behind that claim is in question, they argue that eating 50 grams of processed meat per day, about the size of a hot dog, increases your risk of colorectal cancer by 21%. A Cancer Project spokesman stated that eating processed meat in any quantity should be considered unsafe.

How do hot dogs cause cancer?

Hot dogs, and other processed meats such as pepperoni and bacon, contain sodium nitrite, a food preservative. The worry is that sodium nitrite will combine with amino acids in the stomach to form nitrosamines, which are carcinogenic (cause cancer).

Why not just stop using sodium nitrite?

Sodium nitrite was used initially because it is an effective preservative which also enhances and protects the flavor and color of meat. It was later found that nitrites are effective at killing the bacterium that causes botulism, a serious and often fatal paralytic disease carried by food. Botulism used to be such a problem that in the 1970s the USDA required that a certain amount of sodium nitrite be included in cured and processed meats to fight this illness. Because of sodium nitrite the disease has all but disappeared and is no longer a major worry.

What if I stop eating hot dogs?

Even if you adopted a completely vegan diet, you would still consume nitrites. Surprisingly, 85% of a person's nitrite intake comes from green, leafy vegetables such as spinach and lettuce. Nitrites are also present in most drinking water, especially well water. By eliminating processed meat from their diet, the average person would only reduce their nitrite consumption by about five percent.

Nitrites are a natural part of your immune system.

Your body produces nitrites naturally in greater quantities than you consume with food. This is because they are essential in fighting bacterial illness such as gastroenteritis. Nitrites are secreted in saliva. In the stomach, rather than form nitrosamines as is feared, stomach acids cause nitrites to form nitric oxide, which aids in healing burns and controlling blood pressure.

Not only are nitrites in the proper amounts not harmful to humans, they are essential in preventing food-borne illness. Eliminating them from the diet would not improve health, and they are produced naturally by the body anyway. You can read more about sodium nitrite here.

Hot Dogs and Cancer: Is There Really a Link?

The Cancer Project's ad and petition state in no uncertain terms that eating hot dogs leads to colon cancer. But is there really a correlation? The majority of scientific research says no. Here are the facts:

• None of the children in the ad have cancer, they are paid actors
• The claims in the commercial are based on inconclusive studies of adults, not children
• Eating an occasional hot dog will not increase your chances of cancer (this is according to Colleen Doyle, the American Cancer Society's nutrition director)

And according to Ronald Kleinman, MD, pediatric gastrointestinal expert, "There is no established relationship between the normal consumption of processed foods and the risk of colon cancer."

What about sodium nitrite?

The alleged cancer-causing agent in processed meat is the preservative sodium nitrite. This preservative itself is harmless and in fact beneficial, but there is concern that it will combine with amino acids in the stomach to form nitrosamines, which have been shown to cause cancer in lab animals. Due to this concern, much research has been done on nitrites, and the evidence is that these fears are overstated.

The American Medical Association did an exhaustive study of scientific research on nitrites, and concluded that "no evidence exists to indicate that direct nitrite ingestion itself is carcinogenic in humans."

How does the body protect against nitrites?

The AMA study said that consuming nitrites does not form nitrosamines in the body. This is because the body is an amazing machine that handles nitrites very well. Here is what happens to the nitrites when you eat a hot dog:

• When eating, the body acts to keep nitrites and amino acids separate to prevent nitrosamine formation
• The pH level of the stomach rises when eating, to the point that nitrosamines can't form
• Nitrite is rapidly converted to nitric oxide, which aids in healing burns and controlling blood pressure, too quickly for nitrosamines to form

Nitrites are also produced naturally by the body, since they are an essential part of the immune system, effective at fighting bacterial diseases. Nitrites are always present in saliva. People need nitrites, and it is not only silly to avoid them, it is impossible, since processed meats only account for 5% of dietary nitrite. Most of the rest comes from leafy green vegetables such as spinach and lettuce.

Why Not Ban Them Anyway?

No one argues that hot dogs are a health food. Though the science doesn't support a link to cancer, hot dogs are still high in fat and calories, and not the most healthy food in the world. So what's wrong with telling the USDA to stop selling them to schools?

With the exception of turkey and ham, the USDA does not provide processed meat to public schools

• Processed meat is typically provided by local vendors
• Protein is necessary to a child's diet, and they are more willing to eat hot dogs than other sources of protein
• Processed meats are the most economical way to provide protein to large groups of children
• Real meat as a substitute to processed meat is not only more expensive, it brings raw meat into school kitchens, greatly increasing the risk of spreading food-borne illness
• An occasional hot dog is not unhealthy
• Parents often provide the same processed meat to their children at home because it is a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to include protein in their diet
• Banning hot dogs from school lunch doesn't prevent parents from sending their kids to school with bologna

A balanced diet is important, and traditions learned as children often carry into adulthood. However, the ideal diet is beyond the budget of most public schools and impractical to implement on such a large scale. The responsibility for healthy diet belongs at home with parents. Proper habits learned at home are longer-lasting than those learned at school. Even kids know the food they eat at school isn't always good for them, but they trust their parents. Banning hot dogs at school would achieve no lasting result in our children's health.

Conclusion

Should you be concerned for your children's health? Of course. Should the government step in to protect your children from killer hot dogs? Not at all. If you are worried about what your kids are eating at school, you can either send food with them or get together with other parents and petition your school district to change its lunch menu. Educate your children on proper nutrition, not by lecturing, but by your example. A balanced diet at home will be a more lasting influence on your children than what they eat at school. After all, there are plenty of jokes about cafeteria "mystery meat", but mom's home cooking can be legendary, and passed down through the generations. Of all the dangers your children will face in their lifetime, hot dogs should be the least of your worries.

Think you're no good at cooking? It can be easier than you think, and rewarding as well. Make it a family experience! Children love to help in the kitchen. Go to Allrecipes.com for ideas, and all recipes have nutritional information provided.

Meanwhile, have some fun at the expense of school lunch with Adam Sandler's classic Lunch Lady Land:

Learn More

Interested in learning more about hot dogs, sodium nitrite, and cancer? Here are some useful links:

The original petition by The Cancer Project to the USDA

My letter to the USDA in response to the petition

And this is the sources page from my letter to the USDA:

American Meat Institute Foundation. (2008, October 10). Anti-processed meat campaign is as extreme as the pro-vegan, animal rights group behind it.

American Medical Association. (2004, June). Labeling of nitrite content of processed foods.

Associated Press. (2008, August 26). Ad gives hot dogs a bum rap, experts say.

The Cancer Project. (2008, October 9). Petition to the United States Department of Agriculture for enforcement and rulemaking.

The Cancer Project (Producer). Protect Our Kids [video file]. (2008, July 16).

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2009, June 29). Colorectal cancer trends.

Christiansen, L. N., Tompkin, R. B., Shapiris, A. B., Kueper, T. V., Johnston, R. W., Kautter, D. A., & Kolari, O. J. (1974). Effect of sodium nitrite on toxin production by Clostridium botulinum in bacon. Applied Microbiology, 27, 733-737.

Datko, K. (2009, July 30). Lawsuit: Hot dogs need warning label.

Graham, K. A. (2008, August 1). Campaign aims to ban processed meats from school lunch menus. Philadelphia Inquirer.

Hwang, H. M. (2001). Safety of sodium nitrite in cured meats.

Kelleher, J. S. (2008, October 9). Hot dog! Schools may ban processed meats.

Sofos, J. N., Busta, F. F., & Allen, C. E. (1979). Sodium nitrite and sorbic acid effects on Clostridium botulinum spore germination and total microbial growth in chicken frankfurter emulsions during temperature abuse. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 37, 1103-1109.

Vegparadise News Bureau. (2009, August). Frankly, my dear.... it’s a dog-gone shame.