Beetroot juice, nitric oxide and healthy flow from the Hubbard Foundation - facebook prikbord

Here's a great note on the beauty of beetroot juice from the wonderful Arlene Hubbard of the Hubbard Foundation. Arlene often has nutritional and recipe ideas on the Hubbard Foundation page, as well as medical study information and news about the Hubbard Foundation CCSVI treatment registry. If you haven't "liked" the Hubbards yet...please do so! Nutrition is a huge part of maintaining good blood flow throughout the body.

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Hubbard Foundation--Arlene Hubbard

Beetroot juice is a wonderful addition to any diet. I read the following information in a naturopathic newsletter.

A study published in the January 2011 issue of the journal "Nitric Oxide," found that the nitrates from beets possess vasodilation properties. The researchers show that drinking beet juice improves brain blood flow. Scientists from Wake Forest University in North Carolina reported how they had given volunteers beet juice and watched the effect on their brains. The people in this study were older, an average of 75 years old. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the researchers measured how much blood flowed to the varying parts of the brain. They found that although the total amount of blood that reached the brains stayed the same, more blood flowed to the frontal lobe white matter, especially between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. These areas of the brain are involved in executive functioning. Thus beet juice may increase blood flow to the areas of the brain essential for interpreting information and making intelligent decisions. [7] An easy rule of thumb when it comes to brains is that the more blood that reaches the brain, the better and clearer a person acts. Cut off blood flow to the brain and the tissue can’t do its job well.Scientists have an interesting explanation for why beet juice does all these things. The best accepted theory is that beet juice contains large quantities of nitrates. Beetroot doesn’t just contain nitrates, it is loaded with nitrates. These nitrates are absorbed into the blood and converted to nitrites that in turn are used to make a chemical called nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is a potent ‘vasodilator, that is it opens up blood vessels allowing more blood and oxygen to reach its destination in tissues while at the same time lowering blood pressure. Jon Lundberg and colleagues at the Karolinski Institute in Stockholm may have been the first one to think of this when they proposed the idea in 2006 that green leafy vegetables protect against cardiovascular disease because they contained nitrates. [8] British researchers proved that the nitrates in beets are responsible for their cardiovascular benefit in 2010 by comparing the effect of drinking beet juice with swallowing nitrate capsules.[9] Many of our readers should be raising their hands right now, wanting to ask an urgent question. Many of them recall that in years past, both nitrate and nitrite were thought to be unsafe and we doctors were telling them to avoid eating excess amounts. These were the chemicals that we worried about in smoked meats and bacon. Scientists have reversed their stance and are no longer as concerned about the dangers posed by eating too many nitrates; they now seem more concerned about the danger of not eating enough nitrates. [10,11] Another question that our readers should be wondering is whether or not some other chemical in the beet juice beside nitrate could explain the benefits. This is a reasonable question as beets contain a numerous health stimulating phytochemicals including quercetin and resveratrol. In an elegant experiment Japanese researchers compared the effects of two beet juices, one of which was processed to remove the nitrates. Only the nitrate containing beet juice had the expected blood pressure lowering effects. Removing the nitrates stopped the action. [I just read this study a few days ago but can’t find the reference at the moment. It’s on the desk at work.]How much is enough? Beet juice is not the most appealing of drinks. Most people prefer to ‘water it down’ with other vegetable juices such as cucumber or celery or with a fruit juice such as apple. In every study published on beet juice, participants were asked to drink fairly large quantities, a half-liter or about two cups per day is the standard experimental dose. Less will no doubt still be beneficial as part of a general health promotion program.While we know that green leafy vegetables and in particular beets are good for you, the most potent effect reported so far comes from beet juice. I’ve just made a note to myself to go out tomorrow and purchase a new vegetable juicer. Perhaps you should add one to your shopping list as well.

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To learn more about the importance of nitric oxide in maintaining healthy blood vessels, check out the program I put together for my husband Jeff back in 2008--

link to The Endothelial Health Program

Joan

References:1. Webb AJ, Patel N, Loukogeorgakis S, Okorie M, Aboud Z, Misra S, et al. Acute blood pressure lowering, vasoprotective, and antiplatelet properties of dietary nitrate via bioconversion to nitrite. Hypertension. 2008 Mar;51(3):784-90. Epub 2008 Feb 4.2. Bailey SJ, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Winyard PG, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances muscle contractile efficiency during knee-extensor exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul;109(1):135-48. Epub 2010 May 13.3. Bailey SJ, Winyard P, Vanhatalo A, Blackwell JR, Dimenna FJ, Wilkerson DP, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2009 Oct;107(4):1144-55. Epub 2009 Aug 6.4. Vanhatalo A, Bailey SJ, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, Pavey TG, Wilkerson DP, et al. Acute and chronic effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on blood pressure and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity and incremental exercise. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2010 Oct;299(4):R1121-31. 5. Lansley KE, Winyard PG, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Bailey SJ, Blackwell JR, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of walking and running: a placebo-controlled study. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Mar;110(3):591-600. Epub 2010 Nov 11.6. Cermak NM, Gibala MJ, van Loon LJ. Nitrate supplementation's improvement of 10-km time-trial performance in trained cyclists. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2012 Feb;22(1):64-71.7. Presley TD, Morgan AR, Bechtold E, Clodfelter W, Dove RW, Jennings JM, et al. Acute effect of a high nitrate diet on brain perfusion in older adults. Nitric Oxide. 2011 Jan 1;24(1):34-42.