For half a century, the inorganic nitrate was associated with adverse health effects, but more recently have started to get evidence to show otherwise. In 1990, a research group at Karolinska Institutet has shown that the body can convert nitrate to NO (nitric oxide), a molecule involved in many important body functions such as regulating blood pressure, the immune system and cellular metabolism.
In this new study, the same team studied healthy people who ate 200-300 g of spinach or lettuce for three days. They have given a special exercise, riding a bicycle. The researchers analyzed samples of the muscles of their legs and compared them with similar samples taken from the same subjects after they have been given a placebo. After ingestion of nitrates, a significant improvement was observed in terms of efficiency of mitochondria, which consume less oxygen and produced more ATP per molecule of oxygen consumed.
“We are talking of a quantity of nitrate equivalent to that found in two or three red beets or a plate of spinach,” said Eddie Weitzberg from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. “We know that diets rich in fruits and vegetables may help prevent cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but the active nutrients are not well understood so far. This shows that the inorganic nitrate is a good candidate to explain these benefits. ”
“Mitochondria play a key role in cellular metabolism,” says Professor Eddie Weitzberg, who is heading the study with Professor Jon Lundberg. “The improvement of mitochondrial function may have many positive effects on the body and may explain some of the many health benefits that accrue intake of vegetables.”
The findings, published in Cell Metabolism, are of interest in sports physiology, because they show that nitrate reduces the oxygen consumption during exercise, but also of potential relevance to diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The group also recently demonstrated that nitrate reduces blood pressure of healthy individuals and in laboratory animals contrasts with the components of metabolic syndrome. Other scientists have shown protective effects of nitrates and nitrites in animal models against heart attack and stroke.
Researchers do not want this study to recommend anyone to start taking supplements through inorganic nitrate on the basis of these results. Rather, say the findings may offer an explanation of the health benefits of fruits and vegetables, especially green leafy vegetables.
