For the trial, Prof. Amrita Ahluwalia of the vascular pharmacology department at QMUL and her colleagues recruited 64 people aged between 18 and 85 years. Half of the participants were taking prescribed medication for high blood pressure but did not reach their target blood pressure, and the rest had been diagnosed with high blood pressure but were not yet taking medication for it.
The participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group consumed a milliliter ml glass of beetroot juice, and the other group had the same, except their beetroot juice was nitrate-free. The nitrate-free beetroot juice was the basis of the placebo group. All groups consumed the juice daily for 4 weeks.
They were also monitored for 2 weeks before and after the study, bringing the total trial period to 8 weeks. The trial was double-blind, which means neither the administering clinicians nor the patients knew whether the beetroot juice they were given was the placebo or the active supplement. The first figure is systolic pressure, generated when the heart is pumping, and the second figure is diastolic pressure, created when the heart is relaxing and filling with blood.
In the 2 weeks after they stopped drinking the juice, their blood pressure returned to the higher levels noted at the start of the study. The patients in the active supplement group also experienced a 20 percent or so improvement in blood vessel dilation capacity, and their artery stiffness reduced by around 10 percent.
Studies show that these changes are linked to a reduced risk of heart disease. There were no changes in blood pressure, blood vessel function, or artery stiffness in the placebo group.
The authors note that the reduction achieved in the active supplement group is close to that achieved by medication. To put the importance of these findings in context: The authors note that large-scale observational studies show that for every 2 mmHg increase in blood pressure, the risk of death from heart disease goes up 7 percent and the risk of stroke by 10 percent. She says that one reason the findings are exciting is that they open up the potential for people with high blood pressure to increase dietary nitrate in a way that can be easily worked into their daily lives while still providing a positive benefit.
Ahluwalia adds. Ahluwalia advises that people looking to increase their daily nitrate intake should avoid boiling vegetables, as the nitrate dissolves in water. As for the next step in confirming the relationship between beetroot juice and blood pressure, she says this was a small trial. The next stage would be a larger study that tries to replicate the findings over a longer period with a much larger group of people who have high blood pressure.
Root and green, leafy vegetables are features of the DASH diet. We all need to increase our consumption of fruits and vegetables, which have benefits that go beyond just blood pressure and cardiovascular disease," Juraschek said.
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