A Glass Of Beet Juice A Day Keeps High BP & Lethargy Away

According to a new health study, a daily dosage of beetroot juice may visibly up stamina, exercise tenacity and blood pressure in aging patients with preserved ejection fraction (HfpEF or heart failure with a preserved ejection fraction) syndrome.

The Study

The examiners conducted the study on 19 people in a double-blinded, randomized safety analysis. The examination was done to establish whether a single dose or a daily dose of the juice given over multiple days was better at improving exercise intolerance.

Primarily, aerobic endurance and blood pressure were measured after the participants were given either a single dose of beetroot juice or a placebo. Following which, a daily dose of beetroot juice was administered to all 19 patients for an average of seven days, and their endurance and blood pressure were measured again.

The juice dose in the study was equivalent to 2.4 ounces containing approximately 6 millimoles of inorganic nitrate.

Beet Feat

Along with improving workout endurance by 24%, the juice significantly reduced blood pressure by 5-10 mmHg, according to the study.

The average decrease in blood pressure through a single anti-hypertensive drug is about 5-9 mmHg, suggesting dietary nitrate as an effective, easy and reasonable treatment in controling blood pressure with comparable results with drug cure.

“These initial findings suggest that one week of daily beetroot juice could be a potential therapeutic option to improve aerobic endurance in patients with HfpEF, which has implications for improving everyday activities and quality of life,” said Dalane Kitzman, professor at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina, US.

More on HfpEF

HfpEF is a leading form of heart failure, transpiring mostly in older women. The condition mirrors how the left ventricle of the heart pumps with each beat, the researchers said.

Primary symptoms of HFPEF includes shortness of breath and fatigue with normal amounts of exertion, partly due to non-cardiac factors that reduce oxygen delivery to active skeletal muscles.

The findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology-Heart Failure follows British research last year, which suggested that patients with high blood pressure who drank a daily 250ml glass of beetroot juice experienced an average decrease in blood pressure of about 8/4 mmHg.