A study showed that drinking 250 ml of beetroot juice every day for 4 weeks lowered blood pressure among people with hypertension. The magnitude of blood pressure reduction is of clinical significance since it resembles the average blood pressure reduction achieved with a single antihypertensive medication at standard dose.
Researchers concluded that, with large populations of inadequately treated hypertensive patients at higher risk of CVD, an additional strategy, based on an intake of nitrate-rich vegetables, may prove to be both cost-effective, affordable and favourable for a public health approach to hypertension.
Reference:
Kapil, V., et al., (2015). Dietary nitrate provides sustained blood pressure lowering in hypertensive patients: a randomized, phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Hypertension, vol. 65 (2), 320–327.
