Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Food & Function

Volume

15

Issue

8

First Page

4065

Last Page

4078

PubMed ID

38546454

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences / Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute

RAS ID

69870

Funders

Austrian Science Fund

Comments

Fejes, R., Lutnik, M., Weisshaar, S., Pilat, N., Wagner, K. H., Stüger, H. P., . . . Neubauer, O. (2024). Increased nitrate intake from beetroot juice over 4 weeks affects nitrate metabolism, but not vascular function or blood pressure in older adults with hypertension. Food & Function, 15(8), 4065-4078. https://doi.org/10.1039/d3fo03749e

Abstract

The decline in vascular function and increase in blood pressure with aging contribute to an increased cardiovascular disease risk. In this randomized placebo-controlled crossover study, we evaluated whether previously reported cardiovascular benefits of plant-derived inorganic nitrate via nitric oxide (NO) translate into improved vascular function and blood pressure-lowering in 15 men and women (age range: 56-71 years) with treated hypertension. We investigated the effects of a single ∼400 mg-dose at 3 hours post-ingestion (3H POST) and the daily consumption of 2 × ∼400 mg of nitrate through nitrate-rich compared with nitrate-depleted (placebo) beetroot juice over 4 weeks (4WK POST). Measurements included nitrate and nitrite in plasma and saliva; endothelial-dependent and -independent forearm blood flow (FBF) responses to acetylcholine (FBFACh) and glyceryltrinitrate (FBFGTN); and clinic-, home- and 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure. Compared to placebo, plasma and salivary nitrate and nitrite increased at 3H and 4WK POST following nitrate treatment (P < 0.01), suggesting a functioning nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway in the participants of this study. There were no differences between treatments in FBFACh and FBFGTN-area under the curve (AUC) ratios [AUC ratios after (3H POST, 4WK POST) compared with before (PRE) the intervention], or 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure or home blood pressure measures (P > 0.05). These findings do not support the hypothesis that an increased intake of dietary nitrate exerts sustained beneficial effects on FBF or blood pressure in hypertensive older adults, providing important information on the efficacy of nitrate-based interventions for healthy vascular aging. This study was registered under ClinicialTrials.gov (NCT04584372).

DOI

10.1039/d3fo03749e

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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