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Acute blood pressure lowering and vasoprotective effects of dietary nitrate
Author(s) -
Webb Andrew,
Patel N,
Loukogeorgakis S,
Okorie M,
Aboud Z,
Misra S,
Rashid R,
Miall P,
Deanfield J,
Benjamin B,
Macallister R,
Hobbs A,
Ahluwalia A
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.22.1_supplement.737.30
Subject(s) - vasoprotective , nitrate , nitrite , chemistry , ingestion , food science , blood pressure , nitric oxide , dietary nitrate , pharmacology , biochemistry , medicine , organic chemistry
Diets rich in fruits and vegetables reduce blood pressure (BP) and the risk of adverse cardiovascular events. However, the mechanisms of this effect have not been elucidated. Many vegetables possess a high nitrate content and we hypothesized that this might represent a source of vasoprotective NO via bioactivation to nitrite. In 14 healthy volunteers, approximately 3h following ingestion of a dietary nitrate load (500ml beetroot juice), BP was substantially reduced (Δmax‐10.4/8 mmHg); this effect correlated with peak increases in plasma nitrite, but not nitrate, concentration. The dietary nitrate load also prevented endothelial dysfunction induced by an acute ischemic insult in the human forearm and significantly attenuated ex vivo platelet aggregation in response to collagen and ADP. Interruption of the enterosalivary conversion of nitrate to nitrite (facilitated by bacterial anaerobes situated on the surface of the tongue), prevented the rise in plasma nitrite, blocked the decrease in BP and abolished the inhibitory effects on platelet aggregation, confirming that these vasoprotective effects were due to the activity of nitrite converted from the ingested nitrate. These findings suggest that dietary nitrate underlies the beneficial effects of a vegetable‐rich diet and highlights the potential of a ‘natural’, low cost approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.