Why are pregnant women, infants and others at high public risk?
Nitrate is a potential human health threat especially to infants, causing the condition known as methemoglobinemia, also called “blue baby syndrome.” Nitrate is taken in by eating food and drinking water. Nitrate is converted in the gut to nitrite, which then combines with hemoglobin to form methemoglobin, thus decreasing the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. Infants are more susceptible to nitrate toxicity than older children or adults. Fatalities are rare, but sub-acute methemoglobinemia can be limiting or asymptotic to an infant’s development, making the condition particularly harmful and permanently debilitating. Chronic consumption of high levels of nitrate may also cause other health problems for those who have low resistance to infection.
