El nitrato de la remolacha y las verduras de hoja verde es convertido por las bacterias de la lengua en nitrito y luego en óxido nítrico, la molécula que relaja los vasos sanguíneos. Una dosis concentrada, por lo general jugo de remolacha, reduce la presión arterial unos pocos puntos y mejora modestamente la resistencia al disminuir el coste de oxígeno del ejercicio.
El efecto sobre la presión arterial es menor cuando el jugo solo se añade a una dieta corriente, y el beneficio deportivo se desvanece en los atletas de élite.
Findings & Outcomes
What It Is
The nitrate that matters here is inorganic nitrate, and vegetables are its richest source. Beetroot and six nitrate-dense leaves carry the most: rocket, spinach, chard, lettuce, celery, and beet greens. Eat them and the body's store of nitric oxide rises, the signaling molecule that widens blood vessels and eases the heart's work. Vegetable nitrate becomes nitric oxide only after mouth bacteria act on it.
Most trials used beetroot juice: it packs a repeatable dose into one small glass, and a large salad of nitrate-rich leaves reaches the same amount.
What It Does
Dietary nitrate lowers blood pressure and cuts the oxygen cost of exercise, the blood-pressure evidence is stronger. The blood-pressure effect is largest in the people with the most to gain. Someone with high blood pressure sees the biggest, most durable drop, while someone already in the normal range sees little. In a large Danish cohort, a moderate intake of nitrate-rich vegetables tracked with about 15% lower cardiovascular disease. That 15% comes from a whole way of eating, not vegetable nitrate alone.
The exercise effect is smaller and narrower. After a few days of dietary nitrate the same easy-to-moderate effort costs less oxygen, so the body makes energy more efficiently. The clearest gain is endurance, holding a hard effort longer before exhaustion, while a timed finish changes less. The benefit is largest in recreational athletes and often absent in the elite, whose physiology is already efficient. The benefit plateaus: past about 140 ml of concentrated juice, more nitrate adds little.
The Research & Studies
Everything here is based on the research we have collected and checked, sorted into groups and ordered with the strongest evidence first. Click any claim to open the studies behind it.
Heart And Vascular
A single glass of beetroot juice dropped blood pressure up to 10.4/8 mmHg within hours
A single large glass of beetroot juice dropped blood pressure by up to about 10/8 mmHg a few hours later in healthy people, and the size of the drop matched how much the blood's nitrite rose.
About three hours after a single 500 mL dose of beetroot juice, blood pressure fell by up to 10.4/8 mm Hg in healthy volunteers, tracking the peak rise in plasma nitrite. The dose also protected the endothelium against an ischemic insult and reduced platelet aggregation. Measured in: Healthy volunteers in a mechanistic crossover study. A single-dose acute study in healthy volunteers with a small sample, measuring peak change, not a sustained average. Interrupting the mouth's conversion of nitrate to nitrite abolished the effect, confirming the pathway but also showing how easily it is switched off.
The study · 1
Webb et al., acute blood pressure lowering, vasoprotective, and antiplatelet properties of dietary nitrate via bioconversion to nitrite · Hypertension 2008;51(3):784-790
Daily beetroot juice held 24-hour blood pressure 7.7/5.2 mmHg lower in hypertension
People with high blood pressure who drank beetroot juice every day for four weeks held their blood pressure several points lower than placebo, and the effect did not fade over the month.
In 68 patients with hypertension, four weeks of daily dietary nitrate (250 mL beetroot juice) versus nitrate-free placeholder juice lowered 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure by 7.7/5.2 mm Hg and clinic pressure by 7.7/2.4 mm Hg, improved endothelial function by about 20%, and reduced arterial stiffness, with no tachyphylaxis and good tolerability. Measured in: 68 adults with hypertension, half drug-naive and half already treated. A single four-week trial of 68 people; durable, but not yet extended to hard outcomes like heart attack or stroke.
The study · 1
Kapil et al., dietary nitrate provides sustained blood pressure lowering in hypertensive patients, a randomized, phase 2, double-blind, placebo-controlled study · Hypertension 2015;65(2):320-327
Pooled across 16 trials, nitrate lowered systolic blood pressure about 4.4 mmHg
Across sixteen trials, nitrate and beetroot juice lowered the top blood-pressure number by about 4 mmHg on average, with a smaller change in the bottom number that was not statistically clear.
Pooling 16 randomized crossover trials with 254 participants, inorganic nitrate and beetroot juice supplementation lowered systolic blood pressure by 4.4 mm Hg (95% CI -5.9 to -2.8). Diastolic pressure fell by 1.1 mm Hg, which did not reach significance (95% CI -2.2 to 0.1). Measured in: 254 participants across 16 randomized crossover trials. The included trials were short and used crossover designs, and the effect on diastolic pressure was not statistically significant. The authors called for long-term trials and studies in higher-risk groups.
The study · 1
Siervo et al., inorganic nitrate and beetroot juice supplementation reduces blood pressure in adults, a systematic review and meta-analysis · J Nutr 2013;143(6):818-826
Added to a normal diet, beetroot juice did not lower whole-day blood pressure
When a single beetroot juice was simply added to the normal diet of healthy people, whole-day blood pressure did not fall clearly, with a real drop showing up only in the men and only around six hours after drinking it.
In 30 free-living healthy adults, a single 500 g dose of beetroot and apple juice did not significantly lower 24-hour blood pressure versus placebo (a trend to lower systolic pressure at 6 hours, P = 0.064). A significant reduction of 4 to 5 mm Hg at 6 hours appeared only in the men after adjustment. Measured in: 15 women and 15 men, free-living healthy adults. A single-dose crossover in already-healthy people with normal blood pressure, where less room to fall and a normal background diet both blunt the signal. It argues that the food works best as a daily habit and in people with raised pressure.
The study · 1
Coles et al., effect of beetroot juice on lowering blood pressure in free-living, disease-free adults, a randomized, placebo-controlled trial · Nutr J 2012;11:106
Seis semanas de jugo de remolacha mejoraron la función arterial en aproximadamente un 24 %
En personas con colesterol alto, seis semanas de jugo de remolacha mejoraron de forma medible cuán bien se dilataban sus arterias, un marcador de la salud de los vasos sanguíneos, mientras que el placebo no.
En personas con colesterol alto, seis semanas de jugo de remolacha rico en nitrato una vez al día frente a un placebo agotado de nitrato elevaron la dilatación mediada por flujo en 1.1 puntos porcentuales en términos absolutos, aproximadamente una mejora del 24 % respecto al valor basal, mientras que el grupo placebo empeoró ligeramente. Measured in: 69 people with untreated high cholesterol (67 completed), parallel-group design. Un único ensayo de seis semanas que mide un marcador sustituto de la función vascular, no eventos clínicos, en un grupo específico con colesterol alto.
The study · 1
Velmurugan et al., dietary nitrate improves vascular function in patients with hypercholesterolemia, a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study · Am J Clin Nutr 2016;103(1):25-38
Una ingesta moderada de nitrato vegetal se correspondió con un 15 % menos de enfermedad cardiovascular
En un gran estudio danés, las personas que comían una cantidad moderada de verduras ricas en nitrato tuvieron aproximadamente un 15 % menos de riesgo de enfermedad cardíaca que quienes comían menos, y una presión arterial ligeramente más baja, sin ganancia adicional al comer mucho más.
Entre 53,150 personas en el Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study, una ingesta moderada de nitrato vegetal (mediana de 59 mg/día) se asoció con un riesgo un 15 % menor de enfermedad cardiovascular frente a la ingesta más baja (RRI 0.85; IC del 95 %: 0.82-0.89), con el beneficio estabilizándose cerca de esa ingesta. El grupo de mayor ingesta tuvo una presión arterial basal 2.58/1.38 mmHg más baja. Measured in: 53,150 Danish adults free of cardiovascular disease at baseline. What could explain it instead: People with higher vegetable nitrate intake tend to eat a healthier overall diet, exercise more, smoke less and be of higher socioeconomic status; residual confounding from the whole dietary and lifestyle pattern cannot be separated from vegetable nitrate itself.. Esto es una asociación, no una prueba de causalidad. Las personas que comen más verduras estabilizándose en una ingesta modesta tienden a diferir en formas que el estudio no puede eliminar por completo.
The study · 1
Bondonno et al., vegetable nitrate intake, blood pressure and incident cardiovascular disease, Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study · Eur J Epidemiol 2021;36(8):813-825
Cardiorespiratory Fitness
Tres días de nitrato dietético redujeron el costo de oxígeno del ejercicio submáximo en aproximadamente un 5 %
Después de tres días de nitrato dietético, hombres bien entrenados usaron un consumo de oxígeno medible menor para el mismo ciclismo de fácil a moderado, lo cual significa que sus cuerpos produjeron energía de forma más eficiente.
En un ensayo cruzado aleatorizado doble ciego controlado con placebo, tres días de nitrato de sodio dietético redujeron el costo de oxígeno del ciclismo submáximo: el VO2 medio bajó de 2.98 a 2.82 L/min, aproximadamente un 5 %, en las cuatro cargas de trabajo más bajas y la eficiencia bruta subió del 19.7 % al 21.1 %, sin aumento en el lactato en sangre. Measured in: 9 healthy, well-trained young men. Un pequeño estudio cruzado de nueve hombres usando una sal de nitrato, no un alimento, con una única dosis; la ganancia de eficiencia es pequeña en términos absolutos.
Who this may not transfer to:The study enrolled only men. Whether the oxygen-economy effect is the same size in women has not been tested here, and sex differences in nitric-oxide handling are not fully characterized.
The study · 1
Larsen et al., effects of dietary nitrate on oxygen cost during exercise · Acta Physiol (Oxf) 2007;191(1):59-66
El jugo de remolacha redujo el costo de oxígeno del ejercicio un 19 % y extendió el tiempo hasta el agotamiento a 675 segundos
Seis días de jugo de remolacha permitieron a los hombres hacer ejercicio moderado con menos oxígeno y mantener un esfuerzo intenso notablemente más tiempo antes del agotamiento, mientras también bajaba su presión arterial.
En ocho hombres, seis días de jugo de remolacha (500 mL/día) frente a placebo elevaron el nitrito plasmático, redujeron la presión arterial sistólica (124 frente a 132 mmHg), redujeron el consumo de oxígeno del ejercicio moderado en aproximadamente un 19 %, y extendieron el tiempo hasta el agotamiento durante el ejercicio intenso de 583 a 675 segundos. Measured in: 8 healthy men aged 19-38, crossover design. Un pequeño estudio cruzado de ocho hombres; la medida de tiempo hasta el agotamiento exagera los cambios de rendimiento del mundo real en comparación con un evento cronometrado.
Who this may not transfer to:Eight men only. The economy and tolerance effects have not been measured in women in this study, and endurance-physiology research in this area is heavily male-skewed.
The study · 1
Bailey et al., dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans · J Appl Physiol (1985) 2009;107(4):1144-1155
En 76 ensayos, el nitrato mejoró el tiempo hasta el agotamiento (tamaño del efecto de 0.33) pero no los eventos cronometrados
Al combinar muchos ensayos, el nitrato dietético ayudó de forma fiable a las personas a durar más en pruebas de mantener un esfuerzo intenso, pero su efecto sobre el rendimiento general y sobre eventos cronometrados fue pequeño y no estadísticamente claro.
En 47 estudios (76 ensayos), el nitrato dietético tuvo un beneficio significativo de pequeño a moderado en pruebas de tiempo hasta el agotamiento (tamaño del efecto de 0.33; IC del 95 %: 0.15-0.50) pero solo un efecto trivial y no significativo en general (TE -0.10) y un pequeño efecto no significativo en pruebas de ejercicio graduado. El beneficio es más claro para la capacidad de resistencia, no el rendimiento cronometrado. Measured in: 76 trials in healthy adults. El beneficio es específico de los protocolos de tiempo hasta el agotamiento, que exageran las ganancias del mundo real; el efecto combinado general no fue significativo, y los atletas elite tienden a responder menos.
The study · 1
McMahon et al., the effect of dietary nitrate supplementation on endurance exercise performance in healthy adults, a systematic review and meta-analysis · Sports Med 2017;47(4):735-756
El jugo de remolacha elevó la potencia en contrarrelojes de ciclismo de 4 km y 16.1 km
Una dosis de jugo de remolacha antes de una contrarreloj en bicicleta permitió a ciclistas varones entrenados producir más potencia y terminar más rápido.
En nueve ciclistas competitivos varones de nivel de club, el jugo de remolacha agudo frente a placebo elevó el nitrito plasmático y aumentó la potencia media de salida durante contrarrelojes de ciclismo de 4 km y 16.1 km, mejorando el rendimiento aunque el VO2 durante las pruebas no difirió significativamente. Measured in: 9 club-level competitive male cyclists. Un pequeño estudio de dosis única en nueve ciclistas varones entrenados; los efectos sobre el rendimiento cronometrado son menores y menos consistentes que los efectos sobre el tiempo hasta el agotamiento, y a menudo se reducen en atletas más elite.
Who this may not transfer to:Only male cyclists were tested. Performance effects in female athletes were not measured here.
The study · 1
Lansley et al., acute dietary nitrate supplementation improves cycling time trial performance · Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011;43(6):1125-1131
El beneficio en el costo de oxígeno se estabiliza alrededor de 140 mL de jugo de remolacha
En una prueba de dosis, un pequeño chupito de remolacha hizo poco, una dosis moderada redujo el costo de oxígeno del ejercicio, y duplicar esa dosis de nuevo no añadió nada, por lo que más no es mejor pasado cierto punto.
En 10 hombres sanos a quienes se dio 70, 140 o 280 mL de jugo de remolacha, 140 y 280 mL redujeron el consumo de oxígeno en estado estable del ejercicio moderado pero 70 mL no lo hizo, y no hubo beneficio adicional de la dosis más alta sobre la intermedia, indicando un techo alrededor de 140 mL (aproximadamente 8 mmol de nitrato). Measured in: 10 healthy men, balanced crossover. Diez hombres en un único estudio cruzado; la dosis techo exacta probablemente varía con el tamaño corporal y el estado de entrenamiento.
Who this may not transfer to:Ten men only. The dose-response curve has not been mapped in women, who differ in body size and plasma volume.
The study · 1
Wylie et al., beetroot juice and exercise, pharmacodynamic and dose-response relationships · J Appl Physiol (1985) 2013;115(3):325-336
How it works
Antibacterial mouthwash removes most of the blood-nitrite rise after a nitrate load
Enjuagarse con un enjuague bucal antibacteriano mata las bacterias de la lengua que convierten el nitrato en nitrito, por lo que el aumento habitual del nitrito en sangre tras comer nitrato desaparece en gran medida.
El aumento del nitrito plasmático que normalmente sigue a una carga de nitrato dietético se atenuó notablemente con un enjuague bucal antibacteriano, que elimina las bacterias comensales de la lengua que reducen el nitrato a nitrito, interrumpiendo el primer paso de la vía. Measured in: Healthy volunteers in a mechanistic study. A small mechanistic study measuring the nitrite step, not a health outcome; it establishes the mechanism that the blood-pressure studies then confirmed downstream.
The study · 1
Govoni et al., the increase in plasma nitrite after a dietary nitrate load is markedly attenuated by an antibacterial mouthwash · Nitric Oxide 2008;19(4):333-337
Three days of antibacterial mouthwash raised systolic blood pressure 2.3 mmHg
In people already treated for high blood pressure, just three days of antibacterial mouthwash nudged their systolic blood pressure up by about 2 mmHg, showing how much the body relies on the mouth's nitrate-handling bacteria.
In 15 treated hypertensive men and women (mean age 65), three days of antibacterial mouthwash use raised systolic blood pressure by 2.3 mm Hg (95% CI 0.5 to 4.0, P = 0.01) versus control, with no significant change in diastolic pressure, by interrupting the oral nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway. Measured in: 15 treated hypertensive men and women, mean age 65. A small crossover of 15 people over three days; the effect is small, but it points the same direction as the mechanistic work and is a practical reason to keep antibacterial mouthwash away from a nitrate habit.
The study · 1
Bondonno et al., antibacterial mouthwash blunts oral nitrate reduction and increases blood pressure in treated hypertensive men and women · Am J Hypertens 2015;28(5):572-575
How It Works
About a quarter of swallowed nitrate is drawn back up into the saliva, where bacteria on the back of the tongue, the oral microbiome, reduce it to nitrite. That nitrite is swallowed again. In the stomach and the blood it turns onward into nitric oxide, mainly where tissue is low on oxygen and a widened vessel helps. This is the nitrate–nitrite–nitric oxide pathway, one of the body's two routes to it. The other starts from the amino acid arginine.
That first step needs living mouth bacteria, so anything that kills them removes the effect.
An antibacterial mouthwash does exactly that, and the usual nitrite rise after a nitrate load largely vanishes.
In people treated for high blood pressure, three days of mouthwash raised systolic pressure by about 2 mmHg.
Nitric oxide also cuts the energy a muscle spends to contract. The biggest savings come from two sources: more efficient mitochondria and a lower cost per contraction. Better blood flow adds a smaller share. That is why the same food that eases blood pressure also lets a person hold a pace on less oxygen.
Ways to Do It
This is a food first. The free version is a plate of nitrate-rich vegetables; the paid version is a measured, repeatable dose in a small volume. A useful dose is about 5 to 8 mmol of nitrate. That is a 70 to 140 ml shot, 250 to 500 ml of juice, 300 to 500 g of beetroot, or a big serving of rocket or spinach. Blood pressure begins to fall within two to three hours of a dose and builds over days of daily intake. For exercise, take a dose two to three hours before.
Build meals around the leafy greens and beetroot: a large rocket or spinach salad, chard, beet greens, cooked or grated beetroot. A generous daily serving reaches the range the trials used, and it brings the fiber, potassium, and polyphenols of the whole vegetable.
A glass of beetroot juice, plain or blended with apple to soften the earthiness, delivers a known amount in one small volume.
The shot is the most repeatable dose and the one exercise studies used. Consistent and convenient.
If you are eating nitrate for your heart, keep antibacterial mouthwash well away from the hours around a dose. It removes the tongue bacteria the whole pathway needs.
Go Deeper
- The oral microbiome: the tongue bacteria that turn this nitrate into a blood-pressure signal, and why antiseptic mouthwash blunts it.
- High blood pressure: where a few millimeters from food sits among the levers that lower it.
- VO2 max training: the endurance training dietary nitrate makes slightly easier to sustain.
- Sodium reduction and the DASH pattern: the dietary changes that lower blood pressure alongside nitrate-rich vegetables.
- Whole foods: the eating pattern that already carries a daily load of nitrate-rich leaves.
Cautions For This Practice
Everything to be aware of is here, in one place. This practice suits most healthy people; a few situations call for real care.
The vegetable nitrate pathway does not carry the processed-meat cancer risk
Inorganic nitrate and nitrite, long regarded as inert end-products or as undesirable, are now understood as a physiological reservoir the body reduces to nitric oxide, with emerging therapeutic interest in myocardial infarction and stroke. This reframes vegetable nitrate as a source of a signaling molecule, not a contaminant. This is a review setting out the pathway and its promise, not a trial of safety endpoints; the historical infant methemoglobinemia concern and the separate question of nitrite in processed meats sit outside the vegetable-nitrate picture it describes.Lundberg et al., the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics
Red urine or stool from beetroot is harmless
Beetroot pigment can tint urine and stool pink or red for a day. It is called beeturia and it is the color passing through, not bleeding. It is common and it clears on its own, so it does not need attention unless it persists. Blood in urine or stool from another cause is a separate matter and should be checked, not put down to beetroot.
If you take blood-pressure medication, keep an eye on your numbers
Dietary nitrate lowers blood pressure, and added to medication that does the same it can lower it further, occasionally enough to cause light-headedness on standing. Track your own blood pressure with a home monitor, available without a prescription. If it runs low or you feel dizzy, raise it with your prescriber before stopping anything on your own.
A history of calcium-oxalate kidney stones is a reason to go easy
Beetroot, spinach and chard are high in oxalate, and a large daily habit, especially from concentrated shots, adds a meaningful oxalate load. If you have formed calcium-oxalate stones, favor the lower-oxalate nitrate sources such as rocket, lettuce and celery, keep fluids up, and moderate the beetroot and spinach.
The nitrate-cancer worry comes from processed meat
The old worry that dietary nitrate causes cancer grew from nitrite added as a preservative to cured and processed meat. During cooking and storage that nitrite can combine with the meat's fats and proteins to form nitrosamines. Vegetable nitrate arrives with vitamin C and polyphenols that shift the chemistry the other way, and large vegetable-nitrate intakes track with lower cardiovascular risk.
Start slow, be smart, read the research, and consult a professional if you have any concerns. This is here to inform your choice, not make it for you.
Common Questions
How much does beetroot juice lower blood pressure?
Pooled across sixteen trials, the average systolic drop is about 4 mmHg, modest on a single reading but a real shift when a whole population eats this way.
How long does the effect last?
In people with high blood pressure, a daily glass held it several points lower over 30 days, with no fade.
Explore Related
Other pages this one connects to, by the evidence they share, the outcomes they touch, and the ground they cover.
All 14 sources on this page independently checked and cross-referenced.
Thomas Dehli, Founder & Editor, Sacred Lotus
Sacred Lotus has published Chinese medicine reference material since 2001. Integrative pages are held to the same standard as the herb and formula library: cite the source, grade the claim at its real strength, and say where the research has not looked. This page is educational and it is not medical advice. Last reviewed and updated August 9, 2026.
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