Daily nitrate-rich beetroot juice decreases blood pressure in COPD

Key takeaways:

• Drinking nitrate-rich beetroot juice for 12 weeks lowered blood pressure in patients with COPD compared with nitrate-depleted juice.
• This daily drink also improved exercise capacity.

Consuming nitrate-rich beetroot juice daily for 12 weeks resulted in decreased blood pressure and better 6-minute walk distance in patients with COPD compared with placebo, according to data published in European Respiratory Journal.

“At the end of the study, we found that the blood pressure of people taking the nitrate-rich beetroot juice drink was lower and their blood vessels became less stiff,” Nicholas S. Hopkinson, PhD, professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London, said in a press release from the European Respiratory Society. “The juice also increased how far people with COPD could walk in 6 minutes compared to placebo.”

In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel trial, Hopkinson and colleagues assessed 81 patients with COPD and a home systolic blood pressure of 130 mmHg or higher to determine if 70 mL of nitrate-rich beetroot juice (n = 40) per day for 12 weeks positively changed blood pressure vs. nitrate-depleted placebo juice (n = 41).

Researchers also evaluated 6-minute walk distance, measures of endothelial function, plasma nitrate and platelet function between the two groups.

Baseline characteristics of each group were similar. Within the total cohort, none of the patients experienced a serious adverse event; however, three patients (active treatment, n = 1; placebo, n = 2) withdrew because the juice was “unpalatable,” according to researchers.

By week 12, patients drinking nitrate-rich beetroot juice had greater reductions in systolic blood pressure vs. patients drinking nitrate-depleted placebo juice (Hodges-Lehmann estimator treatment effect, –4.5 mmHg; 95% CI, –3 to –5.9).

Researchers also observed more improvement in 6-minute walk distance among individuals in the nitrate-rich juice group (+30.04 m; 95% CI, 15.7-44.2). Notably, this measurement was only collected from 24 patients in the nitrate-rich juice group and 20 patients in the placebo group.

To assess endothelial function, researchers used an EndoPAT device (Itamar Medical) and found improvements in reactive hyperemia index (+0.34; 95% CI, 0.03-0.63) and augmentation index corrected for heart rate 75% (–7.61%; 95% CI, –14.3% to –0.95%) among those drinking the nitrate-rich juice vs. the nitrate-depleted placebo juice.

Patients consuming the nitrate-rich juice also had a “substantial increase” in plasma nitrate at the end of the study compared with baseline, according to researchers.

Between the two groups, researchers did not find any changes in platelet aggregation.

“This is one of the longest-duration studies in this area so far,” Hopkinson said in the release. “The results are very promising, but will need to be confirmed in larger, longer-term studies.”

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