Sodium nitrite, a chemical best known as a meat preservative, could preserve cardiac muscle after a heart attack, researchers report.The chemical’s only medical use now is to treat cyanide poisoning. But animal studies show the body has a small store of sodium nitrite that in times of emergency is converted to nitric oxide, which is known to increase blood flow by widening blood vessels, according to Dr. Mark Gladwin, head of the vascular therapeutics section of the cardiovascular branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He is co-author of a report on the studies in the May issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
