Nitrate-rich foods boost heart attack survival rate?

A new study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that eating nitrite and nitrate-rich foods (certain veggies and even cured meats) could help those who survive a heart attack recover more quickly.

While eating nitrates is definitely not on my healthy shopping list, those substances are found naturally in many meat products (and added to almost all processed meat for 'color retention'). Should those at risk of a heart attack start eating pounds of salami?

The research, which was conducted on mice, found that those fed extra nitrite and nitrate were observed to have a 48 percent drop in cell death following a heart attack than mice fed a regular diet.