Gee LC, et al.

With dietary nitrate found in abundance in vegetables this review discusses epidemiological, pre–clinical and clinical data supporting the idea that dietary nitrate could represent a cheap and effective dietary intervention capable of reducing blood pressure and thereby improving cardiovascular health.

• Nitric oxide (NO), a potent vasodilator critical in maintaining vascular homeostasis, can reduce blood pressure in vivo.
• Loss of constitutive NO generation, for example as a result of endothelial dysfunction, occurs in many pathological conditions, including hypertension, and contributes to disease pathology.
• Attempts to therapeutically deliver NO via organic nitrates (e.g. glyceryl trinitrate, GTN) to reduce blood pressure in hypertensives have been largely unsuccessful.
• However, in recent years inorganic (or ‘dietary’) nitrate has been identified as a potential solution for NO delivery through its sequential chemical reduction via the enterosalivary circuit.

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Journal Abstract

Food sources of nitrates and nitrites: the physiologic context for potential health benefits – Full Text