Dietary nitrate improves vascular function in patients with hypercholesterolemia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Study answer

What this study found

Six weeks of daily dietary nitrate improved vascular function and reduced platelet activation, with no detected adverse effects. Flow-mediated dilatation increased by 1.1% in the nitrate group versus -0.3% with placebo (P < 0.001). Arterial stiffness decreased in the nitrate group by 0.22 m/s, with a trend versus placebo (P = 0.06), and platelet-monocyte aggregates fell by 7.6% versus a 10.1% increase in placebo (P = 0.004). Stimulated P-selectin expression also decreased versus placebo (P < 0.05), and oral microbiome changes included increased Neisseria flavescens. The authors conclude that…

Study & population

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in nonsmoking, nondiabetic, otherwise healthy adults with untreated hypercholesterolemia.

Intervention

The active regimen was 250 mL/day of nitrate-rich beetroot juice taken orally for 6 weeks, providing about 6.0 mmol nitrate per daily dose.

Key limitation

The intervention period was short, and the active-arm sample size was small.

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Original abstract