Medical professionals use medicine, therapy, surgery, and other treatments to help lessen the symptoms and effects of a disease. Sometimes these treatments are cures — in other words, they get rid of the disease.

The Latin root is curare, “take care of.” Definitions of cure.

noun. a means of healing or restoring to health; remedy. a method or course of remedial treatment, as for disease. successful remedial treatment; restoration to health.

: a remedy for all ills or difficulties : cure-all The law will improve the lives of local farmers, but it is no panacea. Other Words from panacea Synonyms Panacea Comes From the Name of a Greek Goddess More Example Sentences Learn More About panacea.

The word cure comes from the Latin word, cura, meaning care and concern. But it also means trouble, anxiety and sorrow. But the root cura also gives rise to another word: curiosus, from which we get our word, curiosity.

1. [S] [T] I’m cured. ( CK)
2. [S] [T] Is Tom cured? ( CK)
3. [S] [T] There’s no cure. ( CK)
4. [S] [T] That’s incurable. ( CK)
5. [S] [T] He cured my illness. ( CK)
6. [S] [T] We’re going to find a cure. ( CK)
7. [S] [T] There’s no cure for baldness. ( CK)
8. [S] [T] Tom has an incurable disease. ( CK)

5 Diseases That May Be Cured Within Our Lifetime

• HIV/AIDS. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV, was only discovered mere decades ago.
• Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s affects nearly 5.7 million Americans who struggle with varying stages of dementia.
• Cancer.
• Cystic Fibrosis.
• Heart Disease.

The term “cure” means that, after medical treatment, the patient no longer has that particular condition anymore. Some diseases can be cured. Others, like hepatitis B, have no cure. Medical professionals use medicine, therapy, surgery, and other treatments to help lessen the symptoms and effects of a disease.

Curing is the addition to meats of some combination of salt, sugar, nitrite and/or nitrate for the purposes of preservation, flavor and color. Some publications distinguish the use of salt alone as salting, corning or salt curingand reserve the word curing for the use of salt with nitrates/nitrites.

Processed meats are meats that have been preserved by smoking or salting, curing or adding chemical preservatives. They include deli meats, bacon and hot dogs. Eating processed meats increases your cancer risk. Unfortunately, when these processed meats are preserved, cancer-causing substances form.

The two main ingredients that must be used to cure meat are salt and nitrite. However, other substances can be added to accelerate curing, stabilize color, modify flavor, and reduce shrinkage during processing. Salt is the primary ingredient used in meat curing.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), erythorbic acid and their respective salts, sodium ascorbate and sodium erythorbate, are especially useful in improving and maintaining the color of processed meat. These compounds have been shown to inhibit formation of nitrosamines in cured meat.

The two main ingredients that must be used to cure meat are salt and nitrite. However, other substances can be added to accelerate curing, stabilize color, modify flavor, and reduce shrinkage during processing.

Some ingredients commonly used in alternatively-cured meat products include sea salt, evaporated cane juice, raw or turbinado sugar, lactic acid starter culture, and natural flavourings, such as celery juice, celery juice concentrate or vegetable juice powder.

Smoke is both an antimicrobial and antioxidant, however it is insufficient alone for preserving food as smoke does not penetrate far into meat or fish; it is thus typically combined with salt-curing or drying.

Removing the moisture from food helps prevent bacterial and fungal growth which would ruin stored foods. Smoking is a method of drying that also imparts flavor to the food (usually meat items), and smoke helps keep bacteria-carrying-insects away during the drying process.

Now that we’ve discussed all that cured bacon is, you may be wondering how bacon can be made without curing? The truth is, all bacon must be cured before consumption. While uncured bacon is still cured bacon, it undergoes a much different process. A process that is better for you and much more flavorful!

Taste Test: Best Bacon

• Top Pick: Vande Rose Farms Artisan Dry Cured Applewood Smoked.
• Top Pick: Trader Joe’s Uncured Apple Smoked.
• D’Artagnan Uncured Applewood Smoked.
• Tender Belly Dry Cured Maple Bacon.
• Applegate Farms Hickory Smoked Uncured Sunday Bacon.
• Trader Joe’s Classic Sliced Dry Rubbed All Natural Uncured Bacon.

Sodium nitrate, a preservative that’s used in some processed meats, such as bacon, jerky and luncheon meats, could increase your heart disease risk. It’s thought that sodium nitrate may damage your blood vessels, making your arteries more likely to harden and narrow, leading to heart disease.

Banana, broccoli, cabbage, cucumber, potato crisps, pumpkin, salami and strawberries also contain nitrates, but at lower concentrations of between 100 to 450mg/kg.

Vegetables particularly rich in nitrates include green leafy vegetables such as spinach and lettuce as well as fennel, rocket, radishes, Chinese cabbage, and parsley [3, 5, 6].

Foods With Added Nitrates

• Ham. Ham is often the highest source of dietary nitrates.
• Bacon. Bacon has up to 380 mcg of nitrates per 100 g of weight.
• Deli Meat. Deli meat is another major source of harmful nitrates.
• Hot Dogs. Hot dogs are one of the most processed sources of meat on the market.