When consumed as a part of a healthy diet, beets are good for you.
Consumers like plain, easy-to-understand health advice, like “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Starve a fever; sate a cold. So, it is simple to jump on the health food bandwagon when a study finding suggests a straightforward, all-natural treatment for high blood pressure: Each day, consume one cup of beetroot juice.
Nutrients of beet root juice
According to a study published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, people with high blood pressure who drank a cup of beetroot juice daily saw a drop in blood pressure of roughly 10 mm Hg. The justification is: Dietary nitrate, which can help relax blood vessel walls and enhance blood flow, is present in beetroot juice.
An investigation that is genuinely conclusive?
Yet there are a few issues with this study:
- There were only 15 participants, including 8 women and 7 males, whose systolic blood pressure ranged from 140 to 159 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). (They were not on blood pressure medication, and they had no other health issues.)
- Participants in the study only had their blood pressure checked over 24 hours after consuming 250 mL of water or beetroot juice with a negligible level of nitrate.
We do not believe that this study can be deemed to be truly conclusive because the sample size is too small and the duration of the blood pressure reduction was only one day.
Also, while the dietary nitrate in beetroot juice, which is contained in the juice, may lower blood pressure, the effect is only short. Nitrates do not reduce blood pressure, as has been shown in numerous years’ worth of research. Within a few days, the effect is gone.
What else you need to consume
As part of a larger strategy to treat their high blood pressure, I do advise my patients to eat nutrient-rich foods like fruits and vegetables.
Because they are high in folate, potassium, vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants, beets are healthy for you. They simply aren’t a fix in and of themselves. As part of a more comprehensive lifestyle approach, I encourage you to eat more green leafy vegetables, which will ultimately improve your cardiovascular health.
Although though drinking a cup of beetroot juice every day may not be a bad idea, I would never claim that it might prevent cardiac problems.
