Research

Hormonal

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.

While most evidence for reduced arterial stiffness and protection against tissue damage is from animal studies, the mechanism suggests that a diet rich in nitrate-containing vegetables may support vascular health and reduce aging-related arterial stiffening.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Pre-clinical studies with nitrate or nitrite also show the potential to protect against ischaemia-reperfusion injury and reduce arterial stiffness, inflammation and intimal thickness.
Satnam Lidder et al. · British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology · 2012

Why this rating

Based on pre-clinical (animal) studies and some human surrogate markers (PWV), but long-term human data is lacking.

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

narrative_reviewCited 351×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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