Beetroot juice may lower blood pressure in elderly: Study

A UK study shows that drinking beetroot juice twice a day can reduce blood pressure in older adults by changing their oral microbiome. The findings highlight the heart health benefits of nitrate-rich vegetables like beetroot, spinach, and kale.

New Delhi: Older adults with high blood pressure may benefit from drinking beetroot juice, claimed a study on Wednesday.

The blood pressure-lowering effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice in older individuals may be attributed to specific changes in their oral microbiome, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK.

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Nitrate is crucial to the body and is consumed as a natural part of a vegetable-rich diet.

In the study, when the older adults drank a concentrated beetroot juice ‘shot’ twice a day for two weeks, their blood pressure decreased. However, the effect was not observed in the younger group, as revealed by the findings published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

“This study shows that nitrate-rich foods alter the oral microbiome in a way that could result in less inflammation, as well as a lowering of blood pressure in older people. This paves the way for larger studies to explore the influence of lifestyle factors and biological sex in how people respond to dietary nitrate supplementation,” said Professor Andy Jones, of the University of Exeter.

The study recruited 39 adults aged under 30 and 36 adults in their 60s and 70s who spent two weeks taking regular doses of nitrate-rich beetroot juice and two weeks on a placebo version of the juice with nitrate stripped out.

The older age group experienced a notable decrease in the potentially harmful mouth bacteria Prevotella after drinking the nitrate-rich juice, and an increase in the growth of bacteria known to benefit health, such as Neisseria.

The team said that an imbalance between beneficial and harmful oral bacteria can decrease the conversion of nitrate (abundant in vegetable-rich diets) to nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is crucial to the healthy functioning of the blood vessels, and therefore the regulation of blood pressure, the researchers explained.

“The good news is that if you don’t like beetroot, there are many nitrate-rich alternatives like spinach, rocket, fennel, celery, and kale,” added Professor Anni Vanhatalo, from the varsity.