While the health benefits of beetroot juice have already been well documented, a new study now suggests that drinking beet juice daily may enhance blood vessel function more effectively and when adopted as a daily habit during postmenopausal years, this improvement may significantly reduce the risk of heart disease in postmenopausal women.
According to a study published in Frontiers in Nutrition this week, researchers analyzed blood vessel expansion when participants were and were not drinking the beet juice with nitrate to measure vascular function. Results showed that drinking the beet juice with nitrate daily improved blood flow in comparison to the nitrate-free beet juice.
However, the researchers found that neither treatment stopped the decline in blood vessel function after tissue damage had occurred in postmenopausal women. The results also suggest that certain protective benefits of beetroot juice nitrate on blood vessels disappear within 24 hours after the last dose. Consistent daily or even more frequent intake of nitrate-rich beetroot juice might be necessary to maintain the protective effects on endothelial function.
“Our findings reinforce the notion that the vascular benefits of chronic and/or short-term high dietary nitrate intake may be largely due to the continual acute effects on NO conversion. Therefore, further investigation into the optimal daily therapeutic dose of dietary nitrate, chronobiological variations in nitrate metabolism is needed to better understand the effects of nitrate-mediated endothelial protection in postmenopausal women.”
The study headed by Jocelyn M Delgado Spicuzza, Adjunct Professor at the Pennsylvania State University in the United States, was conducted among participants were recruited from the Penn State campus and the greater surrounding State College, PA community. Out of the 54 women who were screened, 25 women completed all portions of the study. All procedures were approved by the Office of Research Protections at The Pennsylvania State University in agreement with the guidelines set forth by the Declaration of Helsinki.
The researchers concluded that a seven-day nitrate-rich beetroot juice supplementation improved endothelial function to a clinically significant level in postmenopausal women with no difference between early and late menopause. This finding is of particular importance given that prior evidence and the timing hypothesis suggest that pharmaceutical interventions are less effective at reversing endothelial dysfunction in women beyond 6 years since menopause.
“Our findings reinforce the notion that the vascular benefits of chronic and/or short-term high dietary nitrate intake may be largely due to the continual acute effects on NO conversion. Therefore, further investigation into the optimal daily therapeutic dose of dietary nitrate, chronobiological variations in nitrate metabolism is needed to better understand the effects of nitrate-mediated endothelial protection in postmenopausal women,” Jocelyn and her associates stated.
Besides, regular consumption of beetroot juice helps lower blood pressure, reduce LDL or “bad” cholesterol, improve exercise stamina, improve muscle strength in people with heart failure, prevent or reduce fatty deposits from forming in the liver, and even overall health.