This may help explain the rising rates of kidney cancer over the last few decades despite the falling rates of smoking. Clearing the Confusion: Nitrates, Nitrites, and Nitrosamines Although fresh meat also contains nitrosamines, processed or cured meat like deli slices may be particularly harmful. In Europe, the world’s second-largest prospective study on diet and cancer calculated that a reduction in processed meat consumption to less than twenty grams a day—less than a small matchbook-sized portion—would prevent more than 3 percent of all deaths.
