If you follow food trends, you know the bacon craze is still on. It seems whatever is served, this popular processed meat can figure in as a flavor-booster, whether it’s for pizza, salad, dessert, or even liquor.

Still, conflicting reports about bacon abound. First you hear it’s bad for you. Then it’s OK. So, should you eat it or not?

“Bacon smells and tastes great. However, I have never seen any evidence that it is actually good for you,” says Sonya Angelone, RDN, a nutrition expert in San Francisco.

People tend to think of bacon as a fresh cut of meat, like a pork chop or a steak. It’s not. It starts out as pork belly. Then it goes through heavy processing: curing, smoking, or salting. This makes the finished product more like hot dogs and lunch meats.

These methods usually use nitrites -- a type of salt -- and nitrates, which are found naturally in vegetables and convert to nitrite as you chew. The additives preserve meat, kill bacteria, and boost flavor and color. But they can also can damage blood vessels and increase the risk of a stroke, Angelone says.