Beetroot Juice Can Help Lower Blood Pressure

Summary
According to a new study done by researchers from Queen Mary, University of London, beetroot juice can help lower blood pressure in people who have hypertension. These researchers examined the effects of ingesting nitrates on blood pressure in rats and then they confirmed their findings on an experiment with 15 people, all with high blood pressure. Nitrates are important to the growth of vegetables. Some examples of vegetables with a high nitrate concentration are beetroot, lettuce, cabbage, and fennel. Apparently, when nitrates are converted into a gas called nitric oxide it relaxes blood vessels and helps lower blood pressure. The group of 15 people they experimented on had a systolic blood pressure of 140-159 millimeters of mercury.  They had no other medical problems and were not on any medication for hypertension. These people had to drink 250 milliliters of beetroot juice, which is actually a low amount of nitrate, but the next day there was an average of a ten point decrease in their blood pressure levels. Although consuming just small amounts of nitrate was proven to lower blood pressure level, it is still unsure if the effects are long-term.

Relevance
This article connects to what we have been learning in class in many ways. It is about blood pressure and hypertension, a cardiovascular disease, which both connects to the circulatory system which we learned about. We also learned about different kinds of cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension, and the preventive actions you can take to avoid getting cardiovascular diseases. But this article is about a possible cure for hypertension and how it works, so it relates to cardiovascular diseases and the circulatory system. Also it is about nitrates in vegetables, which we learned about the nitrogen cycle and it's importance for plant growth.

Author: Sarah Glynn
Published: April 16, 2013
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259113.php