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...