Memorial Day Kicked Off Peak Hot Dog Season, Here Are The Health Issues

Let’s be honest. When it comes to Memorial Day and summer picnics and barbecues, the food you usually think of first isn’t kale. Instead, it’s a hot dog. If you’re going to an outdoor event in America in the next few months, chances are you’ll see these edible meat rolls on the menu. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that during the peak hot dog season from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans will eat about seven billion hot dogs, or about 818 hot dogs per second. Hot diggity dog. But just because you’ll see hot dogs quite often doesn’t mean you have to eat them every time you do.

Speaking of time, a study published in 2021 in the journal Nature Nature estimated that eating a hot dog could cost you 36 minutes of healthy life. This is an episode of the TV show Ted Lasso, depending on the season. Yes, hot dogs aren’t exactly considered health food. If someone suggests an all-hot dog diet, be skeptical, be very skeptical.

Hot dogs are basically an all-you-can-eat type of food. In this case, wurst means sausage and not the worst. The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines “sausage” as “a seasoned mince or minced meat (such as pork, beef, or poultry) stuffed into casings usually from prepared animal intestine or made into patties.” Keep in mind that not all sausages are created equal and necessarily bad for you. The health impact of a sausage depends largely on its ingredients and how it is made. There are several aspects of hot dogs, however, that put them on the much less healthy end of the sausage spectrum.

First of all, hot dogs have gone through the curing process and tend to be highly processed. And in general, cured meats and processed meats are not good for you. Almost a decade ago, in October 2015, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization It placed processed meat in the “human carcinogen (Group 1)” category. This meant that there was enough evidence that processed meat causes cancer in humans. In this case, the colon cancer of that particular cancer.

The curing process involves immersing the meat in salt, which can leave the hot dogs quite high in sodium. High sodium intake can in turn increase your risk for high blood pressure, stomach cancer and various other conditions.

The curing process also involves the addition of sodium or potassium nitrite as a curing agent. Nitrites give hot dogs their pink color as well. During the entire cooking and digestion process, these nitrites can eventually be converted into N-nitroso compounds, which are N-not-nitrosogoodforyou and have been associated with certain cancers and other health problems.

Second is the saturated fat content of hot dogs. When choosing meat for hot dogs, manufacturers don’t just choose the leanest meat. Instead, you can get all kinds of parts from cows, pigs, chicken, turkeys or some combination of them. A dog can usually give you over a quarter of the maximum amount of saturated fat you should be consuming in a given day – although this can vary depending on what’s in the hot dog. Eating saturated fat can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems.

Third, hot dogs can have all kinds of extra ingredients that can vary from hot dog to dog. This includes preservatives and things that make hot dogs taste better, like sodium phosphate, potassium lactate, and other things. So check the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Nutrition Facts label for that particular hot dog to know exactly what you’re eating. Plus, people can put different things on hot dogs, like ketchup, which can include even more things that aren’t great for you. Well, be careful what happens to the dog you eat.

One thing you may wonder about in the case for or against hot dogs is the casing that surrounds the meat. When you hit your face with a hot dog, you will notice that there is a spring on the outside of the dog. This is because the blended hot dog meat is stuffed into a casing to maintain the cylindrical shape of the hot dog. This case can be made of either natural or synthetic materials. This might include sheep or pig intestines—which, by the way, are cleaned before use. The casing may alternatively be made of collagen from beef proteins, cellulose or other material. While such casing materials may not necessarily be bad for you, you still want to know what specifically might be part of or added to that casing.

Now, hot dogs have nutritional value. A 1.5-ounce can of hot dogs provides about 15 percent of the recommended daily amount of protein you should get each day. Hot dogs can provide vitamin B12, phosphorus, selenium and zinc.

Ultimately, life is all about moderation. You don’t have to avoid hot dogs altogether. It’s probably okay to have the occasional hot dog here and there. Just don’t make such a sausage fest commonplace.