Nitrate is a naturally occurring compound in plant and can be converted to nitrite in the nitrogen cycle and vice versa. Therefore, it is easy to find nitrate in plants including vegetables. Especially, it is known that high levels of nitrate found in leafy vegetables. Nitrate itself is relatively non-toxic but its metabolites and reaction products such as nitrite, nitric oxide and N-nitroso compounds, may produce adverse health effects such as methaemoglobinaemia and carcinogenesis. To execute the risk assessment of dietary nitrate and nitrite for the intake of vegetables, it is investigated that the levels of nitrate and nitrite in 23 vegetables (798 samples). The range of concentration were 0−6,719 mg/kg for nitrate and 0−1,635 mg/kg for nitrite, respectively. The Estimated daily intakes (EDI) were 0.85−1.38 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrate and 0.02−0.03 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrite by ages. We conclude that there are no health concerns for eating various vegetables since the EDI were below the Tolerable Daily Intake (3.7 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrate, 0.06 mg/kg body weight/day for nitrite) level established by WHO.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.