Response by Bondonno et al to Letter Regarding Article, “Association of Vegetable Nitrate Intake With Carotid Atherosclerosis and Ischemic Cerebrovascular Disease in Older Women”

We thank Dr Kazushi Tsuda for his interest in our study1 reporting the association of vegetable nitrate intake with carotid atherosclerosis and ischemic cerebrovascular disease in older women. We read, with great interest, that an increase in carotid atherosclerosis might be associated with reduced membrane fluidity of red blood cells, leading to reduced microcirculation and that reduced membrane fluidity of red blood cells is associated with lower levels of plasma nitrate …