Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure by changing oral microbiome: study

[_the_inflator]

Beetroot juice is legal “doping”.

Of course nothing illegal, only natural, a disadvantage if you don’t utilize it for you.

There are beetroot parties at almost any Triathlon event for the runners, apnea divers also get a huge natural and healthy boost.

I use it for long runs I don’t really feel the difference every time, but stats and data speak their own language.

Give it a try, timing is a bit tricky depending on your feast.

But caution: don’t overdo it due to oxalate as potential risk.

And mustn’t be the juice, the beetroot itself already does the job.

[pinkmuffinere]

Do we know the mechanism by which this works? Is it just anecdotal, or is this studied at a population/statistical level?

[ponector]

Should be a raw juice or polish beetroot soup (barszcz) does the job?

[djtango]

I can't remember where (maybe here) that you shouldn't use mouthwash after working out because of the effects on your oral microbiome. That fact shocked me just like this article does because it was unintuitive that your oral microbiome could have such an impact on your physiology.

The effect may actually be a similar one because nitrates do sound familiar...

[christophilus]

You shouldn’t use mouthwash at all ever. It’s a nuke to the microbes in your mouth. There was a long, rambling discussion with a functional dentist on the Primal Podcast[0] that goes into this.

[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jNrm-9sp-RQ

[DuzAwe]

Alcohol or just fluoride?

I have an aversion to the alcohol washes after reading years ago that the change to your mouth biome may lead to the issues that they are meant to stop.

[hotpotat]

If you have trouble in bed, ask yourself if you use Listerine. It kills your mouth’s microbiome and lowers your Nitric Oxide production [0].

[0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31709856/

[storus]

Humming increases NO as well. Maybe you should hum after taking Listerine for a while? I thought one of Listerine's main (unwritten) selling points was that it helps with sex (smell, prophylaxis for STIs).

[riffraff]

I don't use Listerine but I didn't get this: trouble in bed of what kind? I couldn't get it from the linked article.

I never knew high blood pressure correlates with bad sleep or bad sex (if anything, meds for high blood pressure come with negative effects on that).

[giantg2]

And get sun exposure since your body will synthesize it.

[treetalker]

Is there a material difference between drinking beetroot juice and just eating a mess of beets?

[doytch]

The dosage of this study was "2 × 70 ml ∙d−1, each containing ∼595 mg NO3−". That's probably gonna be tough to get daily by eating beets...

[mythrwy]

For those who don't like beets, I eat beet regularly by dropping a few chunks in a fruit smoothie. Makes it nice and pink and the earthy flavor is much diluted.

[throwaway422432]

I've baked a few beetroot cakes lately (substitute grated carrot for beetroot).

It's a little more bitter despite the outrageous sugar level, but wondering if the nitrates come through ok?

[cpursley]

I don't like beets but borscht is amazing.

[healsdata]

Isn't nitrates what makes processed meats so unhealthy? Does this mean the bacon that claims to be cured with celery juice is actually on to something?

[mrob]

The main preservative for processed meats, and the one that reacts with other compounds to form carcinogens, is nitrites not nitrates. Nitrates are sometimes used too, especially for meats that are cured for a long time, because some bacteria will reduce them to nitrites, making them effectively work as a sustained release form of nitrite. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curing_salt

[xyzzy_plugh]

No, you're thinking of nitrites. Celery juice is very high in nitrates, which then get converted to nitrites, which they don't have to put on the label. It's entirely marketing. Nothing has materially changed.

[cobbal]

Celery is just a "natural" source of nitrates/nitrates. This makes it legal somehow to lie and claim "no added nitrates" on the label.

[morninglight]

Yes, this creates real confusion. Does this mean that you can eat a dozen hotdogs if you wash them down with a glass of beetroot juice?

If you are still not confused read this:

"Although prevalent in the diet, nitrates have been viewed negatively because they chemically form carcinogenic nitrosamines in acidic environments, e.g. stomach, purportedly leading to gastric cancer as well as neoplasia of the intestine, brain, pancreas, and contributing to Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. "

https://www.memphis.edu/healthsciences/pdfs/martin-asnh.pdf

[silenced_trope]

I started consuming Beet Chews recently. I'm not convinced of it though.

I think it's just one of those things where I see a YouTube video and go to Amazon to add a new supplement to my life. Then once the supply of the supplement is up I choose not to re-up on it. That's what I'm planning for the Beet Chews too.

I wonder really how much it really lowers BP and what quantity to consume?

The linked article doesn't specify how much was consumed? A single cup? A liter? Likewise I'm just consuming 2 Beet Chews per day per the suggested serving size. But who knows if that really is the "minimum effective dose". There is value to the placebo effect of course, I'm taking something in order to convince myself I'm healthier.

[ulf-77723]

Some time ago I read the book Complete Guide to Sports Nutrition by Anita Bean, which does also emphasize on not using antibacterial mouthwash since it removes the beneficial bacteria in the mouth which convert nitrate to nitrite.

I‘m drinking beetroot juice since 3 years now and asked myself if beetroot capsules might be an alternative.

[dinfinity]

For people who don't like drinking beetroot juice, you can also regularly (French) kiss with people with healthy oral microbiomes [0][1]. Best to really get in there.

[0] https://www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/news/list/2024/02/20/mo...

[1] https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186...

[fhars]

How would capsules affect the mouth biome, though?

[cpursley]

You could also make Borscht with good quality beef for a balanced, healthy meal. It's the best.

[stepanhruda]

I recommend using a mouthwash based on xylitol which kills strains like streptococcus mutans but does not impair these nitrate reducers.

[sleepyguy]

Have you considered L-Citrulline as an alternative to Beet Root? There is a great YouTube video on DAOC with Dr Bryant. You might enjoy it.

https://youtu.be/zECoaEZRRFU?si=IRpX9Tn6tYOH_LTs

[ck2]

Well no if it changed it then you wouldn't need to keep drinking it for the same effect

It's the nitrates which have a short half-life

And the thing is high quality Beet juice is very expensive because it has to be grown in good soil with lots of nitrates, most of the stuff coming out of China is poor quality with just the name and people don't know any better

[mariusor]

I think this is also one of the latest "marginal gains" advantages the cycling pro peloton is making use of. After races you can see them all chug a 150-200ml bottle of beetroot juice as a recovery drink while making the afferent faces. :D

[cowmoo728]

beetroot juice was a few years ago and it's for a different purpose - nitric oxide to relax smooth muscle in the airways. the red recovery drink at recent events is tart cherry juice, which is thought to aid in muscle recovery.

[appguy]

I drink kvass, a fermented beetroot drink and it has helped reduce abdominal pain that i occasionally get below my right rib after eating certain foods.

[nradov]

That's interesting. I had always assumed that the effect was due to vasodilation but perhaps not.

[giantg2]

It is. The article is about how the beet juice affects the microbiome in a way that increases the conversion of nitrate to vasodialating nitric oxide.

[1970-01-01]

Comfortable and uninterrupted sleeping, eating mostly plants, and getting your heart rate up and muscles moving for half an hour per day.

Anything else is going from 90% healthy to 99%.

[dinfinity]

I'd like to add: Stretching or some other kind of flexibility improving activities. Muscles moving for half an hour a day doesn't (necessarily) do anything for that (may even make it worse if you're doing heavy stuff).

The effects on quality of life of a bit of flexibility are huge. Back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, "RSI", and so many other ails are often just pretty much permanently cramped muscles negatively affecting ligaments and nerves.

[baxtr]

This + avoiding cigarettes, alcohol and any other drug as much as possible.

[underlipton]

Biphasic sleep was probably more common before artificial light, and you really need to be moving every 30-45 minutes. Even just a couple of minutes of walking or doing some chore counts.

[alfiedotwtf]

Does caffeine consumption out watching horror films (to greet your heart rate up higher than normal) count, or does it have to be strenuous cardio?

[bufordtwain]

I wonder if they could test this by comparing blood pressures of older folks in Australia with those in other countries since I hear they really like beetroot there :)

[bognition]

Back in school I was often told the lead pipes in Roman aqueducts likely played a key role in the fall of Roman. We know lead is a poison with negative long term effects on cognition.

The aqueducts were also responsible for Romes ability to proliferate and grow. Lead was both a blessing and a curse.

I wonder what future generations will say about our highly enriched and processed diets. Calories have never been cheaper and food is ubiquitous. However I believe our food is playing a huge role in our degraded health.

It’s not surprising that most studies looking at the consumption of unprocessed food, fresh fruit and vegetables show benefits to our health.

The challenge is how do we get this food in the hands of those who need it cheaply and without sacrificing the nutritional (and microbial) content.

[papercrane]

The lead pipes theory is mostly just pop-science. Romans were likely getting more lead exposure from using lead cooking vessels and utensils.

[boston_clone]

Could you provide some evidence to support your assertion that highly enriched foods are degrading health?

Public health experts contend that enriched foods have improved baseline quality of life. Wheat breads with iron, folate, and B vitamins in the US is an easy example.

[Etheryte]

The lead pipe thing is one of the best known urban legends that's both completely false and also constantly making rounds on the internet.

[bigmattystyles]

Don’t lead pipes or any pipes for water actually get a patina of calcium carbonate or something so while not great it’s not as bad as told. Only if the ph of the water changes because you change the water source, kinda like in flint?

[giantg2]

"Back in school I was often told the lead pipes in Roman aqueducts likely played a key role in the fall of Roman. We know lead is a poison with negative long term effects on cognition."

I highly doubt there was much effect from the pipes. They would quickly be sealed in mineral scale. Cups or utensils - maybe, but would be more about specific important people using them rather than being widespread.

[underlipton]

It should be noted that juice is a highly-processed food. It concentrates the sugar, vitamin, mineral, and water content of a plant while removing the fiber.

As to your last question, part of it may be rethinking the profit motive in food production. Food waste to keep prices high is a huge issue.

[throawaywpg]

Apparently it wasn't the pipes, which wouldn't have leached enough to make a difference. It was the fact that the Romans used lead acetate as a sweetener in their food and drinks!

[tim333]

The Victorians used lead pipes and then the British Empire declined. Coincidence?

[kmeisthax]

The Roman Empire did not fall because of lead pipe. It fell because the empire's elites ran out of territory to conquer and turned against one another.

Also, the Roman Empire didn't fall, either. It split in two. The Western half continued splitting into a bunch of competing kingdoms while the Eastern half slowly shrank over about a thousand years. It eventually wound up being rolled into the Ottoman Empire, which lasted until WWI.

[Havoc]

Wouldn't this stain teeth over time?

[oguz-ismail]

Not as much as tea, coffee and tobacco

[nothrowaways]

Cooked or raw?

[thallium205]

One of the problems with beetroot though is that it is loaded with sugar.

[hombre_fatal]

Well, you don’t need to guzzle 600 calories of it.

[jeffbee]

So? Every living human needs a lot of calories every day.