Letter to the editor. Dietary nitrates and its impact on human health.

Abstract

Dear editor:

Let us first of all congratulate you on your interesting magazine. We have read with great interest the article published by Pereira and Ramírez (1). It is certainly an extremely important article that attempts to accurately describe the exposure, metabolism, and biotransformation of nitrates and nitrites. In addition, it analyzes some of the effects on human health from the intake of these compounds, both beneficial and negative.

However, in order to clarify the information we would like to add that, in the part that deals with exposure to nitrates and nitrites, there are only two important routes of exposure, the first is endogenous and governed by the classic route of L-arginine- nitric oxide synthase involving endogenous nitric oxide metabolism which, given its reactive nature, is rapidly oxidized in tissues and the bloodstream to give rise to its most stable products: nitrite and, in the presence of oxyhemoglobin, nitrate. The second pathway is exogenous and is orchestrated by the enterosalival nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway using mainly dietary inorganic nitrates and nitrites (2).