Beet Root and High Blood Pressure

Blood pressure measurements measured in millimetres of mercury (mm of Hg) - a normal reading is 120/80 mm of Hg - represent how the blood pressure changes each time the heart beats. Systolic pressure is the pressure that occurs as the heart beats and diastolic is the "resting" blood pressure between beats. The researchers found that both systolic and diastolic blood pressure readings dropped after drinking beetroot juice. The lowest systolic blood pressure occurred at 2.5 hours after ingestion with a drop of about 10 mm of Hg and the lowest diastolic blood pressure was seen at three hours after the beetroot juice drink. There were no significant differences in blood pressure at 24 hours between the two groups, though in the group that drank beetroot juice systolic blood pressure was still lower 24 hours after drinking than it had been at the start.

Before you go overboard on beetroot juice, keep in mind that it was a small study with lots of caveats -- and lots more research will be needed to confirm the results. But the initial take was promising. Compared with the people in the study who drank water, those who drank a serving of beetroot juice had a drop in blood pressure just 1 hour later. Twenty-four hours later, systolic blood pressure was still several points lower in the beetroot juice drinkers than in the water drinkers.

Though beetroot juice may be grand, keep this in mind: Researchers think that the juice's high concentration of nitrates -- little compounds found in lots of different fruits and veggies as well as in processed meat and sometimes in groundwater -- may be the reason for the blood pressure benefits. But getting too many nitrates may be a health hazard. The comforting thing about getting nitrates from fruits and veggies is that produce has antioxidants that help keep nitrates in check. So cut back on processed meats.

Drinking beetroot juice but spitting out all the saliva, blocked the rise in nitrite levels in the blood and also the reduction in systolic blood pressure but had no effect on plasma nitrate levels, potassium levels or the clotting of platelets. This supports the researchers' theory that the conversion of nitrate to nitrite by bacteria in saliva is an important part of the mechanism.