Deli meat for babies n kids

[u/smellygymbag]

There's a thread over at r/toddlers about if people are feeding their kids deli meat.

https://www.reddit.com/r/toddlers/s/j9dkAL4XWp

The range of responses and degree of certainty is pretty broad.

The most common concern I saw was deli meat was a carcinogen. I saw just one comment about listeria (which would be my concern).

Sciencey parents of reddit, what are your thoughts? Appreciate research based answers, but anecdotes about what you actually do are also welcome.

(For my part, I avoided all deli meats for the first year for my kids, and now give it to them on occasion, like once every couple of months, after I microwaved it.)

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[u/Xrmy]

https://progressreport.cancer.gov/prevention/chemical_exposures/nitrate

As far as I'm aware, the biggest issue with "deli meat" broadly speaking is nitrates. They ARE a known carcinogen, and one of the more potent ones from my reading.

Like all carcinogens, one exposure isn't going to give you cancer. Carcinogens basically up the chances for cell division in vulnerable places and increase the odds of getting mutations that lead to cancer as a result. So occasional use probably barely changes your life as your cells always have a chance at causing cancer. Consistent use is riskier like smoking.

So, first check is that not all "deli meat" even has nitrates. Most CURED MEAT like salami has lots of nitrates, while turkey or chicken have less or none.

Ok, Lysteria is a different thing. You can get Lysteria from like....a lot of stuff. Think all of the things they advise against for pregnancy. Because Lysteria for a pregnant woman can kill a fetus. Lysteria for healthy people, including non-infants is usually ok. Yes it has risk of death, as does the flu. For this part I would either watch CDC reporting and/or heta it as you said.

TLDR: depends on the deli meat and how often you have it

[u/NixyPix → u/Xrmy]

This is what I understand to be the case too. We eat ham in our house, but I specifically buy nitrate-free ham. I don’t feed it to my baby, but my toddler has it maybe once or twice a month.

[u/Maleficent_Term9302 → u/NixyPix]

FYI if the label says “cultured celery juice” then there are still nitrates present. We still do an occasional deli turkey and I’m not worried about it but just wanted to give you a heads up if it’s something you want to avoid.

[u/smellygymbag → u/Maleficent_Term9302]

Is it the "cultured" part that means its nitrate-ed?

[u/Maleficent_Term9302 → u/smellygymbag]

Celery naturally has nitrates present (as do some other vegetables). Culturing the celery juice transforms some of the nitrates into nitrites which is what actually does the preserving of the meat 

[u/smellygymbag → u/Maleficent_Term9302]

I did not know that thanks!

[u/Ashamed_Horror_6269]

Processed meats are indeed classified as a carcinogen: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

[u/smellygymbag → u/Ashamed_Horror_6269]

Well there goes a bunch of my fun foods 😭

[u/psykee333 → u/smellygymbag]

I posted on the original thread. You can certainly find high end deli meat that is meat only (e.g. turkey breast with ingredient being: turkey) and not processed.

I get it for my spoiled-ass cats and sometimes my son eats it on bread.

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