Scientists have found that a daily glass of beetroot juice can help to lower high blood pressure. This effect is due to the high nitrate content of beetroot. Due to a reaction between nitrate and bacteria in the saliva, the nitrate is converted to nitric oxide (NO), and results in blood vessels dilating to increase blood flow. This rather complex study involving 14 healthy subjects, showed some interesting effects of beetroot juice. In this open-label (in other words subjects knew what they were drinking), crossover design trial, they gave 14 healthy volunteers 500 ml beetroot juice or water to drink within a 30-minute period. The participants' BP levels were measured every 15 minutes for 1 hour before and 3 hours after drinking the juice or water, and then every 6 hours up to a final reading at 24 hours.
Why not try this great Fresh Beetroot and Vegetable Juice:
2 raw organic carrots
3 organic celery sticks
Half an organic cucumber
1 organic beetroot
Roughly chop all the veg, and put through a juicer or into a powerful blender. This delicious juice is a perfect liver and blood cleanser. More fresh beetroot recipes here.
Back to the study:
Two and a half hours after drinking 500ml of beetroot juice, subjects systolic BP (the pressure with each heartbeat) was around 10 mm Hg lower. The diastolic reading (the "resting" pressure between heartbeats), reduced by 8 mm Hg after 3 hours. At 24 hours, systolic BP was still more than 4 mm Hg lower for the juice drinkers, while no significant differences were seen for diastolic BP.
The authors report in the journal Hypertension that the changes in participants' systolic BP from baseline after drinking beetroot juice significantly and inversely correlated with their plasma nitrite concentrations.
Furthermore, if the participants refrained from swallowing saliva during, and for 3 hours after, beetroot juice ingestion there was no rise in their plasma nitrite or BP levels.
Professor Amrita Ahluwalia, from the William Harvey Research Institute at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London, 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 BP."
Andrew Webb, the lead author said "Dietary nitrate underlies the beneficial effects of a vegetable-rich diet and highlights the potential of a 'natural' low cost approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease."
This was a small study, but clearly paves the way for future research on different subject groups. To learn more about the virtues of beetroot visit www.lovebeetroot.co.uk