Health Nugget – Nitrate

The Nutrient You Need but Probably Don’t Know About

Nutrition and biochemistry form two sides of the same coin: our diet provides the raw materials for complex biochemicals that form the structure of the body and the myriad substances that enable it to function.

One particular biochemical is nitric oxide, not to be confused with nitrous oxide, or so-called laughing gas. Back in 1992, the journal Science declared nitric oxide to be the “molecule of the year.” Six years later, three scientists earned the Nobel Prize for their research on nitric oxide.

The story, like almost everything that occurs in nutritional biochemistry, follows a series of steps. Cells “talk” with each other, and nitric oxide functions as a key cell-communication molecule. It signals endothelial cells lining blood vessels to dilate, or relax. Because of this property, nitric oxide plays a key role in maintaining normal blood pressure.

Nitric oxide’s nutritional precursors are the amino acid L-arginine, and the body can make some L-arginine from L-citrulline. But an excellent and often overlooked source is dietary nitrate. The body converts nitrate to nitrite, which is then converted to nitric oxide.

Many fruits and vegetables are good sources of nitrate, and there are significant amounts of nitrate in celery, lettuce, arugula, and spinach. But the hands-down richest source is beetroot and, in particular, beetroot juice and concentrate. (The juice is extracted from the red beetroots you cook with or use in salads, not the sugar beets used for making sucrose.)

How to “Beet” Hypertension

The studies on the benefits of beetroot juice and blood pressure show remarkably consistent benefits. Amrita Ahluwalia, PhD., of Queen Mary University, London, and her colleagues asked 68 people with hypertension to drink either one cup (150 ml) of nitrate-rich beetroot juice or nitrate-free beetroot juice daily. The drinks were switched so everyone in the study eventually consumed both types of juice for two weeks.

The researchers measured the subjects’ blood pressure using three different techniques. All three techniques found a reduction in blood pressure among people drinking the beetroot juice with naturally occurring nitrate.

A separate study by the same researchers involved giving 69 patients a cup of either nitrate-rich beetroot juice or beetroot juice without nitrate daily for six weeks. All of the subjects had elevated cholesterol levels. Using ultrasound, researchers determined that the nitrate-rich beetroot juice led to a 24 percent improvement in blood vessel flexibility and tone, technically known as endothelial function. The subjects also had a slight decrease in blood clotting, another sign of improved cardiovascular health, and an improvement in aortic pulse wave velocity, both signs of improved cardiovascular risk. These factors worsened in the placebo group.

Reducing Glaucoma Risk

Harvard medical researchers recently reported that eating nitrate-rich vegetables can lower the risk of primary open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease.

Jae H. Kang, ScD, and her colleagues analyzed health data that had been collected every two years, starting in the mid-1980s and continuing through 2012, and that included 63,893 female nurses and 41,094 male physicians as study subjects. She reported that people with the highest daily intake of nitrate—approximately 240 mg, mostly from leafy green vegetables—had a 21 percent lower risk of open-angle glaucoma and a 44 percent lower risk of glaucoma with the early stages of vision loss.

Boosting Athletic Performance

Finally, Michael J. Berry, Ph.D. of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his colleagues tested the effects of beetroot juice on 15 people diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The juice substantially increased blood levels of nitrate and nitrite.

Studies conducted in Europe show that concentrated beetroot improves exercise performance and increases tolerance to high-intensity exercise. The studies involved “recreationally fit” athletes and elite athletes training under controlled conditions, such as cycling or running on a treadmill in an exercise laboratory.

The dietary nitrate in beetroot works in a couple of different ways. First, it enables blood vessels to flex (instead of remaining stiff) under pressure. Second, the nitrate enables athletes to use less oxygen while exercising at the same intensity. This makes “exercise seem easier, and it should be possible to continue it for longer,” says Andrew M. Jones, Ph.D., a professor and exercise physiologist at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.

These studies have found that blood nitrate levels peak two to three hours after consuming beetroot, and that levels remain elevated for six to nine hours. That means the key is to drink beetroot juice three hours before exercising, and to have it daily to maintain higher blood levels of nitrate, according to Jones. The juice also led to significant reductions in post-exercise and resting blood pressure.

How to Use Beetroot Juice

Most blood pressure studies have used 180 g (6.35 oz.) of beetroot juice daily, although more might be helpful to some people. (Beet juice can cause nausea and vomiting, so this amount should be spread over the course of the day in 2–3 doses.) A beneficial effect on blood pressure should be apparent within 10 days.

Please note that the juice may turn your urine pink, but this is a superficial, not harmful, side effect.

The Nutrition Reporter, Jack Challem, August 31, 2016.

God has freely given us life giving, nutrient abundant vegetables, fruits, juices for building, repairing, rejuvenating, and healing of blood and cells. Consuming a diet rich in nutrition can prevent and even reverse disease conditions. Let each eat and drink that which will offer radiant, energetic and truly optimal health.

Food For Life – Salt and Hypertension

Let us take a look at the subject matter for this month’s article—preservatives. You may like this, or you may not but: the “proof is in the pudding!” And what I read is not necessarily what I like to read; but it is a viable fact that man cannot live by “bread alone,” but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. With this in mind, let us look at various articles printed on this subject. First of all let me talk to you about salt! Is it bad or is it essential? “Food should be prepared in as simple a manner as possible, free from condiments and spices, and even from an undue amount of salt.” “I use some salt, and always have, because from the light given me by God, this article, in place of being deleterious, is actually essential for the blood. The whys and wherefores of this I know not, but I give you the instruction as it is given me.” “Good baked or boiled potatoes served with cream and a sprinkling of salt are the most healthful. The remnants of Irish and sweet potatoes are prepared with a little cream and salt and re-baked, and not fried; they are excellent.” Counsels on Diets and Foods, 340, 344, 323. [All emphasis supplied.]

Today, the use of an excess amount of that delicious flavoring is well known to increase the risk of high blood pressure. The incidence of high blood pressure in populations using large amounts of sodium is well documented. The amount of salt needed every day can be as low as between 200 and 300 milligrams for a sedentary person up to well in excess of 2 grams for a laborer in extremely heated conditions (such as roofing in the summer or hard physical labor in tropical conditions or in a boiler room etc.) Since most Americans consume between 6 and 13 grams of salt per day obtaining adequate amounts is seldom a problem.

A person who is using large amounts of preprocessed foods can obtain large amounts of sodium without knowing it (over 20 grams per day). One of the easiest ways to decrease sodium is to decrease the foods eaten which have large amounts of salt added. Most health reformers have discarded most of these foods already for other reasons. They include all foods which contain monosodium glutamate, baking soda or baking powder, foods that are cured, smoked, pickled, salted or prepared in salty brines such as sauerkraut, pickles, soy sauce (and many other sauces), all regular chips such as potato chips, corn chips, popcorn, salted crackers, and salted nuts. The next step is moderate use of salt in cooking and especially at the table. Most experts recommend that the sedentary person not consume more than about 1 teaspoon of salt per day (or between 2 and 3 grams) which is an easy range to be in if you are using natural foods (not highly processed) and are moderate in the use of salt in cooking and on the table.

The National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have advised everyone to cut down on salt to prevent high blood pressure. Although many people are getting too much salt that does not mean that less is always better—in the summer especially when people are spending alot of time out of doors many people do not get enough of it. While experts agree that many of the nation’s fifty million or so hypertensives should decrease their salt intake, ‘there is not conclusive scientific evidence that the general population should adopt a low-sodium diet.

Salt—sodium chloride—is an essential ingredient of the blood. Sodium is necessary to maintain proper blood volume and controls the water-balance in body cells. It is required for transmission of nerve impulses and the proper utilization of carbohydrates and proteins. Chloride is needed for proper pH and for production of hydrochloric acid by the stomach and for certain enzymes.

People who are afraid of getting too much salt and are getting strenuous activity in warm or hot conditions may actually need more of it than they normally obtain.

Corn Spread

1 cup Millet Flour

2½ cups soft Water

1 Tsp. Sea Salt

Place these ingredients in your small mini-crock pot. Stir well, and let cook overnight.
Cook 1 – 16 oz. pkg. of frozen corn according to pkg. directions and when finished place in blender, whiz on high until very smooth. Drop by spoonfuls the millet flour mixture which has cooked.

Add Seasonings:

2 tsps. Butter flavoring

1 tsp. Coconut flavoring

½ tsp. Sea Salt

½ cup Cashews

Whiz again to mix properly. If you wish a thicker butter, drain the cooking water off the corn.

The End