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Daily dose of beet juice promotes brain
health in older adults
Winston-Salem, N.C., November 3, 2010 –
Researchers for the first time have shown
that drinking beet juice can increase blood
flow to the brain in older adults – a
finding that could hold great potential for
combating the progression of dementia.
The research findings are available online
in Nitric
Oxide: Biology and Chemistry, the
peer-reviewed journal of the Nitric Oxide
Society and will be available in print soon.
(Read the abstract.)
"There have been several very high-profile
studies showing that drinking beet juice can
lower blood pressure, but we wanted to show
that drinking beet juice also increases
perfusion, or blood flow, to the brain,"
said Daniel Kim-Shapiro, director of Wake
Forest University's Translational Science
Center; Fostering Independence in Aging.
"There are areas in the brain that become
poorly perfused as you age, and that's
believed to be associated with dementia and
poor cognition."
High concentrations of nitrates are found in
beets, as well as in celery, cabbage and
other leafy green vegetables like spinach
and some lettuce. When you eat high-nitrate
foods, good bacteria in the mouth turn
nitrate into nitrite.
Research has found that nitrites can help
open up the blood vessels in the body,
increasing blood flow and oxygen
specifically to places that are lacking
oxygen.
In this study, the first to find a link
between consumption of nitrate-rich beet
juice and increased blood flow to the brain,
Translational Science Center researchers
looked at how dietary nitrates affected 14
adults age 70 and older over a period of
four days.
On the first day, the study subjects
reported to the lab after a 10-hour fast,
completed a health status report, and
consumed either a high- or low-nitrate
breakfast.
The high-nitrate breakfast included 16
ounces of beet juice. They were sent home
with lunch, dinner and snacks conforming to
their assigned diets.
The next day, following another 10-hour
fast, the subjects returned to the lab,
where they ate their assigned breakfasts.
One hour after breakfast, an MRI recorded
the blood flow in each subject's brain.
Blood tests before and after breakfast
confirmed nitrite levels in the body.
For the third and fourth days of the study,
the researchers switched the diets and
repeated the process for each subject.
The MRIs showed that after eating a
high-nitrate diet, the older adults had
increased blood flow to the white matter of
the frontal lobes – the areas of the brain
commonly associated with degeneration that
leads to dementia and other cognitive
conditions.
"I think these results are consistent and
encouraging – that good diet consisting of a
lot of fruits and vegetables can contribute
to overall good health," said Gary Miller,
associate professor in the Department of
Health and Exercise Science and one of the
senior investigators on the project.
To make the sometimes-bitter beet juice
tastier – so a greater number of people will
drink it and reap its health benefits – the
university has worked with a company to
create a new beet juice-based beverage. The
university is currently looking into ways of
marketing the beverage.
