I'm still not very convinced of the nitrate=really really evil.  Even for
the controls mentioned, I'm sure men who eat a lot of hot dogs and bologna
also eat a lot of ho-hos, twinkies, and cookies.  And very few fruits and
vegetables.  Fat was corrected for, but not fruit and vegetable intake as
well as carbohydrate intake.  This study is fairly meaningless to me unless
these factors were controlled for.

I don't want to look up the article again since I'm at work, but I read a
couple articles that debunked the nitrate=cancer connection.  If you google
nitrates, you'll probably be able to find it.  I think the deal was that
they studied areas of the world who had this positive correlation with
increased nitrates in water with cancer.  They greatly reduced the level of
nitrates; however, the level of cancer and birth defects did not decrease.

I think the positive correlation and increased cancer has more to do with
increasing levels of carbohydrates in our diets.