A new study has stated that nitrites and nitrates, compounds added to meat for preservation, color and flavor can actually be a reason for developing bladder cancer.

About 300,000 people were studied before reaching this conclusion but researchers also state that more research was needed to establish a confirmation of this finding.

About 70,000 Americans every year are told that they have bladder cancer, and the disease would be developed by more than 2 per cent of the population during their lifetime.

Senior researcher Dr Amanda Cross of the National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, said that those that have already been linked with cancer are smoking and exposure to arsenic.

She added, "However, other exposures are likely involved. We investigated whether compounds found in meat, formed either during the meat cooking process, heterocyclic amines or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or during meat preservation, nitrates and nitrites, were associated with bladder cancer."

Potential cancer-causing N-nitroso compounds are formed during the cooking process when nitrites and nitrates combine with other chemicals. These contact the lining of the bladder when they might be excreted through the urinary tract.