Monday Sep 15, 2014 (foodconsumer.org) -- A new study shows that dietary intake of nitrates can increase the production of nitric oxide (NO) which is important for muscle and vascular health among other things.  The study suggests that nitrate supplementation could treat high blood pressure as high nnitric oxide levels are linked to lower blood pressure.

Nitrates can be found in fruits and vegetables.  Vegetables high in nitrates include cabbage, celery and collard greens, lettuce, beets, carrots, green beans,  parsley, radishes, and spinach.

The study tested a concentrated beetroot juice supplement in 12 healthy men and women aged 22 to 55 years.  Participants were asked to consume 140 ml of beetroot juice either containing or devoid of 11.2 mmol of NO3-.  After two hours of the ingestion, tests were conducted to examine the potential effects of the supplement.

In controls, no changes in breath nitric oxide were observed whereas in study participants, breath NO was increased by 61%.  The nitrate supplementation also increased peak knee extensor power.

The study concludes that acute dietary nitrate intake increases whole-body nitric oxide production and muscle speed and power in health men and women.

Nitric oxide helps vascular dilation and prevents high blood pressure.  This compound is also good for reproductive health in men.  Arginine and vitamin C are also good for the NO production, previous studies found.

Another study recently published in ISRN Physiology also found that beet juice supplementation increases No production and lowers systolic blood pressure in healthy men and women.  This suggests that drinking beet juice or any other vegetable juice high in nitrates could be effective at lowering blood pressure in patients with hypertension or pre-hypertension. (David Liu,, PHD)

Coggan AR, Leibowitz JL, Kadkhodayan A, Thomas DT, Ramamurthy S, Spearie CA, Waller S, Farmer M, Peterson LR., Effect of acute dietary nitrate intake on maximal knee extensor speed and power in healthy men and women.  Nitric Oxide. 2014 Sep 6.

Vernon Bond, Bryan H. Curry,. George Adams, M. Sadegh Asadi, Kimani A. Stancil,4 Richard M. Millis,5 and Georges E.  Effects of Nitrate Supplementation on Cardiovascular and Autonomic Reactivity in African-American Females,  Haddad,  ISRN Physiology, Volume 2014 (2014)http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/676235

Updated on 09/17/2014