Hormonal
Dietary nitrate enhances exercise performance and preserves endothelial function in patients with peripheral arterial disease and healthy individuals, likely by improving blood flow to hypoxic tissues.
If you have peripheral arterial disease or are an athlete looking to improve performance, incorporating high-nitrate vegetables like beetroot, spinach, or rocket into your diet may help. The benefits come from nitric oxide improving blood flow to working muscles. This effect is seen with both acute doses (a single serving) and chronic daily intake.
Dietary nitrate has been demonstrated to have a range of beneficial vascular effects, including... enhancing exercise performance in healthy individuals and patients with peripheral arterial disease... preserving or improving endothelial dysfunction
Why this rating
Supported by pre-clinical and some human studies, but the paper notes a need for more evidence on hard endpoints and long-term effects.
Source
Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate‐nitrite‐nitric oxide pathway
Satnam Lidder et al. · British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology · 2012
DOI 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2012.04420.x
More from this paper
- Dietary nitrate from vegetables (e.g., beetroot, leafy greens) lowers blood pressure via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway, with effects dependent on baseline blood pressure levels.Good
- Dietary nitrate may reduce arterial stiffness and intimal hyperplasia, and protect against ischaemia-reperfusion injury, primarily through nitric oxide generation and inhibition of oxidative stress.Moderate
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