Nirogen

Nitrates and nitrites are known to cause several health effects. These are the
most common effects:

– Reactions with haemoglobin in blood, causing the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood to decrease (nitrite)
– Decreased functioning of the thyroid gland (nitrate)
– Vitamin A shortages (nitrate)
– Fashioning of nitro amines, which are known as one of the most common causes of cancer (nitrates and nitrites)

But from a metabolic point of view, nitric oxide (NO) is much more important than nitrogen alone. In 1987, Salvador Moncada discovered that this was a vital body messenger for relaxing muscles, and today we know that it is involved in the cardiovascular system, the immune system, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The enzyme that produces nitric oxide, called nitric oxide synthesis, is abundant in the brain.

Although nitric oxide is relatively short-lived, it can diffuse through membranes to carry out its functions. In 1991, a team headed by K.E. Anderson of Lund University Hospital, Sweden, showed that nitric oxide activates an erection by relaxing the muscle that controls the blood flow into the penis. The drug Viagra works by releasing nitric oxide to produce the same effect.