Loading...
Dietary inorganic nitrates are converted after ingestion to the vasodilator nitric oxide. Investigators in the U.K. assessed whether beet juice, a source of dietary nitrates, might lower blood pressure (BP) in 64 patients with hypertension. One author has interests in a beet-juice manufacturer.
The double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial supplied 250 mL daily of beet juice or nitrate-depleted beet juice (placebo) for 4 weeks after a 2-week run-in followed by a 2-week washout. All patients completed the dietary intervention. Beeturia and fecal discoloration were common. Consumption of dietary nitrates was associated with a decrease in clinical BP; mean systolic BP significantly decreased from baseline by 7.7 mm Hg, and mea…