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Beetroot juices reduce blood pressure
If you drink a glass of beetroot juice every day, you can lower your blood pressure. This was shown by a recent study Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. Patients with heart failure also significantly improved their endurance. Responsible for this effect is inorganic nitrate, which is abundant in other vegetables.
Everything has grown into an herb
"An herb has grown up against everything," is the name of an old natural medicine proverb. For millennia, the knowledge of natural medicine was transmitted to the next generation. In modern times, many scientists are trying to rediscover knowledge after it has been supplanted by the pharmaceutical industry and the belief in pills medicine. Researchers at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem found in a comparative study that a daily beetroot juice can significantly improve the performance of heart failure patients. In addition, improved blood pressure values were found at rest and under stress.
Beetroot juice can lower blood pressure. Image: Thomas Siepmann - fotolia Inorganic nitrate content causative
Beetroot is rich in inorganic nitrate. This circumstance is the reason why an increase in performance was observed in many studies. A new study from the US showed that patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) can have a positive effect if they regularly drink the beet juice. After only one week of daily consumption, systolic blood pressure was measurably improved. The services in the test were also visibly improved.
A total of 20 hypertonic HFPEF patients in NYHA stage 2 and 3 and middle-aged 69 years participated in the pilot study. First, the subjects were given a single dose of beetroot or placebo juice in a cross-over design. After a so-called washout phase, all the candidates participated in the one-week juice cure. Each 70 ml daily ration contained exactly 6.1 mmol of nitrate.
After one week, the aerobic endurance at submaximal loading had increased from 363 to 449 seconds. This means that performance has increased by 24 percent. However, the single dose in the placebo comparison showed no effect. Heart rate and oxygen uptake during the exercise ECG remained nearly identical. (Study Link)
Stress test showed visible success
It was apparent that in both treatments (the week-long, as the one-off) nitrate and nitrite concentrations in the plasma had increased measurably. The systolic blood pressure dropped from 134 to a whopping 120 mmHg after a week. The stress test also showed an improvement after one week. Although this was not so pronounced (from 166 to 159 mmHg), but still showed a pointing trend.
Although the study was only undertaken with a small number of participants and the comparison period was also quite short, the study should have an "important therapeutic consequence", according to the study director Joel Eggebeen from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. For a reduced performance is the main symptom of heart failure. The patients suffer from the restrictions in everyday life. There are no drugs that achieve performance gains. Only the endurance training could help so far patients. Therefore, the physicians write: "Our study suggests that a chronic NO intake through the intake of inorganic nitrate through the diet can improve the submaximal exercise tolerance".
Previous studies point in the same direction
A previous study pointed in a similar direction. The single use of beetroot juice in placebo comparison had led to an increased exercise tolerance of the patients. In the research, however, the nitrate content was twice as high as this one.
Pills do not help
And one more thing was noticeable. By contrast, no or even negative effects were achieved with organic nitrate. That could be, according to the scientists, that "a different pharmacokinetics" was present. Namely, organic nitrate quickly leads to a release of large amounts of NO. "Inorganic nitrate instead provides for slower NO formation and thus lesser but sustained vasodilation," the researchers write. In addition, "the NO release is directed more specifically into hypoxic regions".
But why does the beetroot juice gift work so well? The scientists suspect that after consumption "the systemic vascular resistance is lowered". In addition, the study authors suspect that the distribution of blood flow and thus the circulation of the muscles is promoted. The study should be used to undertake further, larger research. Finally, "the secret should be disclosed for the benefit of the patient". (Sb)