Soil used for agriculture is seriously contaminated mainly by pesticides and fertilizers, environmental pollutants, heavy metals, sulfuric and nitric acids from acid rain, but also by pollution as well as waste. As a result, pathogenic (disease-causing) substances such as nitrates from fertilizers, pesticides and persistent hydrocarbons enter food and thus the human body through the soil.
Contaminants in food – possible complaints and diseases:
- General symptoms – such as malaise, fatigue, irritability, headaches, digestive disorders, joint and muscle complaints.
- Immunodeficiency – increased susceptibility to infections.
- Learning disabilities and reduced intelligence in children
- Irritation of the skin and respiratory tract – increased risk of bronchial asthma.
- Impairment of the central nervous system, which can lead to brain damage.
- Nerve damage – convulsions, paralysis, coma, impaired vision and gait.
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Heart disease – cardiac arrhythmias
- Genetic damage
- Disruption of lung, liver and kidney function.
- Increased risk of cancer due to nitrosamines
- Nitrate is a potentially toxic compound: Nitrate is reduced to nitrite in the body by bacteria (saliva/stomach).
- Nitrite is a reactive oxidant that reacts preferentially with the blood pigment hemoglobin, converting it to methemoglobin. Furthermore, nitrites (also contained, among other things, in cured sausage and meat products and ripened cheese) form nitrosamines with secondary amines (contained in meat and sausage products, cheese, and fish), which have genotoxic and mutagenic effects. They promote the development of esophageal, stomach and liver cancer.
- The daily intake of nitrate is usually about 70% from the consumption of vegetables (lettuce and lettuce, green, white and Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, spinach, radish, radish, beet), 20% from drinking water (nitrogen fertilizer) and 10% from meat and meat products and fish.
