New Drug from Hot Dogs

[catbirdseat]

So you think sodium nitrite has a bad rap? It keeps hot dogs nice and red and delicious looking (horsecock connection, hence cc.com relevance). Then it was discovered that it reacts with amino acids to form highly carcinogenic nitrosamines. Now it's medicine.

 

I thought this was pretty interesting, but then I'm a chemist.

 

Sodium Nitrite

[Dechristo]

High-Altitude Magic Line Horsecock for your next expedition:

...nitrite seems to guard tissues — in the heart, the lungs, the brain — against cellular death when they become starved of oxygen.

Tiny doses almost tripled blood flow. Moreover, when people exercised, nitrite levels plummeted in the muscles being worked — the body was using it.

 

High doses are an antidote for cyanide poisoning

I'd better keep some on hand...

...I don't subscribe to Churchill's quip of "Madam, if I were married to you, I would drink it".