Dementia could be preventable with a daily drink of beet juice, a study conducted by scientists at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, suggests.
Researchers at the university’s Translational Science Center found that consumption of high-nitrate foods, including beets and leafy greens like celery and spinach, can help improve blood flow and subsequently oxygen supply in the brain, according to a press statement released by the university on Tuesday.
The “friendly” bacteria in people’s mouths convert nitrates into nitrites which act on the body’s blood vessels, causing them to vasodilate or open up. The scientists believe this can help “poorly perfused” areas of the aging brain, believed to be associated with reduced function and dementia.
Several studies have already shown that drinking beet juice can reduce blood pressure. This study investigated the effects of dietary nitrates on 14 participants aged 70 and over during a four-day test period.
The patients began days one and two with either a high—or low—nitrate breakfast, after fasting and having a health status check and a nitrite level blood test.
An hour later, the blood flow in their brains was measured using MRI scans. Their nitrite blood levels were tested again, and the participants went home with prepared meals containing the corresponding level of nitrites for each test group.
On days three and four, the diets were switched and measurements were carried out as before.
The scans revealed that blood flow increased in the white matter of the frontal lobes in study participants on the high-nitrate diet. In dementia and other degenerative diseases, this part of the brain is most commonly affected.
“I think these results are consistent and encouraging—that good diet consisting of a lot of fruits and vegetables can contribute to overall good health,” said senior investigator Gary Miller, associate professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science, in a statement.
The university has teamed up with a company to create a better-tasting beet juice that will encourage more people to take this health-giving drink, and is also working on marketing it.
The team’s findings are available online in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide Society, and will be published in print soon.
Researchers at the university’s Translational Science Center found that consumption of high-nitrate foods, including beets and leafy greens like celery and spinach, can help improve blood flow and subsequently oxygen supply in the brain, according to a press statement released by the university on Tuesday.
The “friendly” bacteria in people’s mouths convert nitrates into nitrites which act on the body’s blood vessels, causing them to vasodilate or open up. The scientists believe this can help “poorly perfused” areas of the aging brain, believed to be associated with reduced function and dementia.
Several studies have already shown that drinking beet juice can reduce blood pressure. This study investigated the effects of dietary nitrates on 14 participants aged 70 and over during a four-day test period.
The patients began days one and two with either a high—or low—nitrate breakfast, after fasting and having a health status check and a nitrite level blood test.
An hour later, the blood flow in their brains was measured using MRI scans. Their nitrite blood levels were tested again, and the participants went home with prepared meals containing the corresponding level of nitrites for each test group.
On days three and four, the diets were switched and measurements were carried out as before.
The scans revealed that blood flow increased in the white matter of the frontal lobes in study participants on the high-nitrate diet. In dementia and other degenerative diseases, this part of the brain is most commonly affected.
“I think these results are consistent and encouraging—that good diet consisting of a lot of fruits and vegetables can contribute to overall good health,” said senior investigator Gary Miller, associate professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science, in a statement.
The university has teamed up with a company to create a better-tasting beet juice that will encourage more people to take this health-giving drink, and is also working on marketing it.
The team’s findings are available online in Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide Society, and will be published in print soon.
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