Beetroot, a wonderful vegetable, helps maintain good cardiovascular health. It has been scientifically proven that beetroot juice helps in lowering high blood pressure and hence helps preventing cardiovascular problems.
Apart from this most notable benefit, there are many other benefits of it as well, which puts it in the category of one of the healthiest juice recipes.
A new study published in the Redox Biology journal showed that consumption of beetroot juice results in the production of a mix of mouth bacteria that are associated with healthier brain function and blood vessels.
The findings of a recent study suggest that drinking
beetroot juice promotes a mix of mouth bacteria that are associated with
healthier brain function and blood vessels.
The findings of the study were published in the journal
'Redox Biology'.
Beetroot - and other foods including lettuce, spinach, and
celery - are rich in inorganic nitrate, and many oral bacteria play a role in
turning nitrate into nitric oxide, which helps to regulate blood vessels and
neurotransmission (chemical messages in the brain).
Older people tend to have lower nitric oxide production, and
this is associated with poorer vascular (blood vessel) and cognitive (brain)
health.
In the new study, by the University of Exeter, 26 healthy
older people took part in two ten-day supplementation periods: one with
nitrate-rich beetroot juice and another with nitrate-free placebo juice, which
they drank twice a day.
The results showed higher levels of bacteria associated with
good vascular and cognitive health, and lower levels of bacteria linked to
disease and inflammation.
Systolic blood pressure dropped on average by five points
(mmHg) after drinking the beetroot juice.
"We are really excited about these findings, which have
important implications for healthy ageing," said lead author Professor
Anni Vanhatalo, of the University of Exeter.
"Previous studies have compared the oral bacteria of
young and older people, and healthy people compared to those with diseases, but
ours is the first to test nitrate-rich diet in this way," added Vanhatalo.
Vanhatalo further noted, "Our findings suggest that
adding nitrate-rich foods to the diet - in this case via beetroot juice - for
just ten days can substantially alter the oral microbiome (mix of bacteria) for
the better. Maintaining this healthy oral microbiome in the long term might
slow down the negative vascular and cognitive changes associated with
ageing."
The researchers ran tests to identify clusters or
"modules" of oral bacteria that tend to thrive together in similar
conditions.
A module (Prevotella-Veillonella) that has been associated
with inflammation was reduced after nitrate supplementation, including a
decrease of Clostridium difficile (which can infect the bowel and cause
diarrhoea).
Professor Vanhatalo stressed that more research is needed to
confirm the findings and see whether similar effects are found in other groups.
"Our participants were healthy, active older people
with generally good blood pressure," she said. "Dietary nitrate
reduced their blood pressure on average, and we are keen to find out whether
the same would happen in other age groups and among people in poorer
health."
"We are working with colleagues in the University of
Exeter Medical School to investigate interactions between the oral bacteria and
cognition to better understand how diet could be used to delay cognitive
decline in older age," Vanhatalo added.
Much research has been conducted into the benefits of a
healthy gut microbiome, but far less is known about the oral microbial
community, which plays a crucial role in "activating" the nitrate
from a vegetable-rich diet.
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