[Mecha]

Hot Dogs May Cause Genetic Mutations
By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
posted: 14 August 2006
01:51 am ET


Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer.

Scientists note there is an up to 240-fold variation in levels of these chemicals across different brands.

"One could try and find out what the difference in manufacturing techniques are between the brands, and if it's decided these things are a hazard, one could change the manufacturing methods," researcher Sidney Mirvish, a chemist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, told LiveScience.

Mirvish and his colleagues examined hot dogs because past research had linked them with colon cancer. Hot dogs are preserved with sodium nitrite, which can help form chemicals known as N-nitroso compounds, most of which cause cancer in lab animals.

Extracts from hot dogs bought from the supermarket, when mixed with nitrites, resulted in what appeared to be these DNA-mutating compounds. When added to Salmonella bacteria, hot dog extracts treated with nitrites doubled to quadrupled their normal DNA mutation levels. Triggering DNA mutations in the gut might boost the risk for colon cancer, the researchers explained.

"I won't say you shouldn't eat hot dogs," Mirvish said. Future research will feed hot dog meat to mice to see if they develop colon cancer or precancerous conditions, he explained.

James Hodges, president of the American Meat Institute Foundation in Washington, noted this study is "a preliminary report that the author concedes requires further investigation. The carcinogenic risk to humans of the compounds studied has not been determined."

The possible hazard presented here is not just limited to hot dogs. Salted dried fish and seasonings such as soy sauce may contain similar levels of these chemicals, Mirvish said.

Mirvish and his colleagues reported their findings in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The More You Know

~Mecha

[chearn73]

Ah CRAP! I love Hot Dogs.

I'm gonna be a frickin mutant...I mean, more than I already am.

[colbertnational]

you book reading science loving liberals are out destroying america once again with your lies and "studies". everybody knows there is nothing more american than hot dogs!

[Russkie]

everybody knows there is nothing more american than hot dogs

ignorance is great isn't it...

Hot dogs = sausages, bratwursts(german hot dog), kalbasa(slavic hot dog), are all over the world.

[ee-rh]

ignorance is great isn't it... Roll eyes

Hot dogs = sausages, bratwursts(german hot dog), kalbasa(slavic hot dog), are all over the world.

Sort of true and false. Hot dogs are considered quite American by Americans as they are quite frequently consumed on July 4th and at baseball games and for many those events which are considered very American wouldn't be the same without hotdogs, however, you are right that hotdogs are just a form of sausage and that sausages are found across the world. Essentially, it just comes down to what is required to qualify as American as both sides could be argued quite convincingly.

[chearn73]

I don't think they are like sausages at all, which tend to be made of higher quality cuts of meat. Hot Dogs are generally made, from my understanding, of "what's left" after the good stuff has been taken away. PLUS, they are chalk full of preservatives and something called nitrates, which I have no clue what they are, but apparantly horrendous to us hot dog lovers.

So, if you are going to eat a tube like meat product, it's probably best to get sausages from a butcher. It's better for ya! Oscar Meyer wieners are darn tasty....but lethal...

[Dan]

Another food that causes cancer. Blasted fear-mongerers.

Everyone knows hot dogs aren't exactly healthy for you, but in a new study chemists find they may contain DNA-mutating compounds that might boost one's risk for cancer.

Of course, it doesn't say in what quantities.

Extracts from hot dogs bought from the supermarket, when mixed with nitrites, resulted in what appeared to be these DNA-mutating compounds. When added to Salmonella bacteria, hot dog extracts treated with nitrites doubled to quadrupled their normal DNA mutation levels. Triggering DNA mutations in the gut might boost the risk for colon cancer, the researchers explained.

So they extract chemicals in (likely) high concentrations from hot dogs, then mix it with nitrates, then added salmonella and this increased mutation levels. These might boost the risk of colon cancer.

Next time I buy hot dog extract I'll have to remember this.

[Russkie]

I don't think they are like sausages at all, which tend to be made of higher quality cuts of meat. Hot Dogs are generally made, from my understanding, of "what's left" after the good stuff has been taken away.

And Americans like that crap? they would rather eat left over pig intestines mixed with chemicals than high quality sausages.

[chearn73]

The wierd thing is...yes...oh MAN do I love hot dogs. I try not to think about what they actually contain...

[Russkie]

Almost everything is genetically or chemically altered in America, you cannot avoid it without growing your own. I plant my own home grown tomatoes, peaches outside, and they taste very different from the stores tomatoes. Americans have lost the taste in real food.

[chearn73]

Oh man, there is nothing better than fresh tomatoes out of the garden...or fresh peas...oh wow. Yup, indeed. Or, picking an apple straight off of a tree to eat. That's good stuff. Yup, yup, yup.

We normally plant a garden, but right at planting time this year we were off getting married and it kind of screwed up our ability to put in a garden. We REALLY miss it. We usually have lettuce and tomatoes, zucchini, fresh herbs, and....what else...well, whatever we end up planting. It sucks not having it this year, but is great to be married!

[Truthseeker]

ee-rh wrote:

Sort of true and false. ........Essentially, it just comes down to what is required to qualify as American as both sides could be argued quite convincingly.

To add a bit more history:

The American story of the invention of the hot dog, like the hamburger and ice cream cone, is often attributed to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. However, similar sausages were made and consumed in Europe, particularly in Germany, as early as 1864.

Hot dogs were frequently known as frankfurters or franks, but the name "hot dog" became popular by the 1890s

chearn73 wrote:

I don't think they are like sausages at all, which tend to be made of higher quality cuts of meat

well....

In the 1830s, it was widely rumored that the dogs that roamed urban streets were regularly rounded up (by "dog wagons") and made into sausages; by the 1840s, the term "dog sandwich" was used

(Ibid)

[chearn73]

OH MAN! Now THAT'S a real hot dog. Ick.

[colbertnational]

look cut-n-runners! the american hot dog is always better than that duetchland crap!(real americans can't spell) america kicked germany's ass in WW2! therefore hotdogs are greater than bratwurst! USA! USA!

[Decky]

America nucked japanesse children in WW2. Thats all.

[Decky]

Hot dogs taste completly difern't to sasege and ive been to the fartherland and the US andthe food is mutch more "superior" in Germany.