Blood pressure and beetroot juice

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http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-02/qmuo-rsa020508.php

 

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Queen Mary, University of London

Research shows a daily does of beetroot juice can beat high blood pressure

 

Researchers at Barts and The London School of Medicine have discovered that

drinking just 500ml of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce blood

pressure. The study, published online today in the American Heart Association

journal Hypertension, could have major implications for the treatment of

cardiovascular disease.

 

Lead by Professor Amrita Ahluwalia of the William Harvey Research Institute at

Barts and The London School of Medicine, and Professor Ben Benjamin of Peninsula

Medical School, the research reveals that it is the ingestion of dietary nitrate

contained within beetroot juice - and similarly in green, leafy vegetables -

which results ultimately in decreased blood pressure. Previously the protective

effects of vegetable-rich diets had been attributed to their antioxidant vitamin

content.

 

Professor Ahluwalia and her team found that in healthy volunteers blood pressure

was reduced within just 1 hour of ingesting beetroot juice, with a peak drop

occurring 3-4 hours after ingestion. Some degree of reduction continued to be

observed until up to 24 hours after ingestion. Researchers showed that the

decrease in blood pressure was due to the chemical formation of nitrite from the

dietary nitrate in the juice. The nitrate in the juice is converted in saliva,

by bacteria on the tongue, into nitrite. This nitrite-containing saliva is

swallowed, and in the acidic environment of the stomach is either converted into

nitric oxide or re-enters the circulation as nitrite. The peak time of reduction

in blood pressure correlated with the appearance and peak levels of nitrite in

the circulation, an effect that was absent in a second group of volunteers who

refrained from swallowing their saliva during, and for 3 hours following,

beetroot ingestion.

 

More than 25 per cent of the world's adult population are hypertensive, and it

has been estimated that this figure will increase to 29 per cent by 2025. In

addition, hypertension causes around 50 per cent of coronary heart disease, and

approximately 75 per cent of strokes. In demonstrating that nitrate is likely to

underlie the cardio-protective effect of a vegetable-rich diet, the research of

Professor Ahluwalia and her colleagues highlights the potential of a natural,

low cost approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease – a condition that

kills over 110,000 people in England every year.

 

Professor Ahluwalia said: " Our research suggests that drinking beetroot juice,

or consuming other nitrate-rich vegetables, might be a simple way to maintain a

healthy cardiovascular system, and might also be an additional approach that one

could take in the modern day battle against rising blood pressure'.

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The paper, `Acute blood pressure lowering, vasoprotective and anti-platelet

properties of dietary nitrate via bioconversion to nitrite', is published online

in the February 2008 edition of Hypertension.