Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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- The effect is produced by beetroot's naturally high levels of nitrate
- High concentrations of nitrate are also found in celery and cabbage
A glass a day can reduce it by 7%, say researchers
A glass a day can keep the doctor away: Researchers say beetroot juice can help lower blood pressure
High
concentrations of nitrate are also found in celery, cabbage and other
leafy green vegetables such as spinach and some lettuce.
Eating
high-nitrate foods triggers a series of chemical reactions in the blood,
which can increase oxygen in areas of the body which are specifically
lacking supply.
The beetroot
juice used in the study contained about 0.2g of dietary nitrate, levels
found in a large bowl of lettuce or two beetroots.
Amrita
Ahluwalia, lead author of the study and a professor of vascular
pharmacology at The Barts and The London Medical School, said: ‘We were
surprised by how little nitrate was needed to see such a large effect.
‘Our hope is
that increasing one’s intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate
content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a
lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve
cardiovascular health.’
Beetroot juice is found in most health food shops and usually costs around £2 a bottle.
An estimated
16million people in the UK have high blood pressure, including a third
who do not know they have it, and it is a major risk factor for heart
disease, stroke, and kidney failure.
Changes in
lifestyle, such as cutting down salt and alcohol and taking more
exercise, may control blood pressure and there are a number of drug
treatments available.
A high blood
pressure reading is one that exceeds 140/90 mm Hg. The first figure,
the systolic pressure, corresponds to the ‘surge’ that occurs with each
heart beat.
The latest
study recruited eight women and seven men with systolic pressure between
140 and 159 mm Hg who were not taking blood pressure drugs.
The
participants drank 250ml of beetroot juice or water containing a low
amount of nitrate, and had their blood pressure monitored for 24 hours,
says a report in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.
Compared with those drinking water, people having beetroot juice cut their systolic pressure by about 10 mm Hg.
The effect was most pronounced three to six hours after drinking the juice but still present even 24 hours later.
Previous research has shown beetroot increases stamina, and can boost blood supply to vital areas of the brain.
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