Posted on 08/03/2025 4:39:37 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
The blood pressure-lowering effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice in older people may be due to specific changes in their oral microbiome, according to the largest study of its kind.
Nitrate is crucial to the body and is consumed as a natural part of a vegetable-rich diet. When the older adults drank a concentrated beetroot juice shot twice a day for two weeks, their blood pressure decreased—an effect not seen in the younger group.
The new study provides evidence that this outcome was likely caused by the suppression of potentially harmful bacteria in the mouth.
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 key to healthy functioning of the blood vessels, and therefore the regulation of blood pressure.
The study recruited 39 adults aged under 30, and 36 adults in their 60s and 70s.
Each group 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. Each condition had a two-week "wash out" period in between to reset. The team then used a bacterial gene sequencing method to analyze which bacteria were present in the mouth before and after each condition.
In both groups, the make-up of the oral microbiome changed significantly after drinking the nitrate-rich beetroot juice, but these changes differed between the younger and older age groups.
The older age group experienced a notable decrease in the 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 older group had higher average blood pressure at the start of the study, which fell after taking the nitrate-rich beetroot juice, but not after taking the placebo supplement.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
It simply happened due to changes in mouth bacteria.
I will say we stopped using antibacterial mouthwash a year ago, in favor of one that supports healthier bacteria, to curb my blood pressure that was consistently higher than it once was.
It did the trick, along with fiber and a few other tweaks.
Where does one buy beetroot juice? I don’t recall ever seeing it at the supermarket.
beware of oxalic acid
Check out Force Factor Total Beets.
COME ON YOU SONS OF BITCHES, DO YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER?!
Yea, that stuff would depress me to the point if my heart almost stopping.
Much like rabbit food.
It’s a beet. Only homo brits have to say beetroot.
I’ve used it off and on.
Lol that’s what I found out in search.
The trouble with beetroot juice, is that it tastes like beets. Yuck!.
That said, I occasionally take it in capsule form (OK) or ‘gummies’ (yuck, again) and it does seem to be beneficial to my circulatory system.
Dwight Schrute likes beets.
Well, the greens are very good too.
I cut my coffee intake from 5-6 cups a day to 1/2 cup a day, and my blood pressure (measured every day) dropped 8-10 points after a week...
A beet is a root, so it is labeled beet juice at most stores.
YES! YES WE DO!!😁
I love beets. I’ll have to remember to pick some up.
Beetlejuice, Beetle juice, Beetlejuice … not okay.
May result in serious complications.
Now, there’s a beet root for the day you said that you’d “beet-root” to me
A sweet pea for the sweet way you always smiled at me
But you had friends who needed you
There was Ferdie, there was Liza
So, just for them, I put down a load of ferdy-liza
The sun and the rain fell from up above
And landed on the earth below
In my Garden of Love
-Benny Hill
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.