In healthy people, the amount of nitrite in the blood was related to the amount in saliva, which suggests that the blood nitrite comes from the saliva through a specific pathway.

The process where nitrate moves from blood to saliva and gets converted to nitrite by mouth bacteria is important for keeping nitrite levels stable in the blood.

Bacteria in the mouth help keep nitrite levels in the blood stable, which is shown by the fact that people with higher nitrite in their saliva also tend to have higher nitrite in their blood.

Eating foods with inorganic nitrate, like beets or leafy greens, might help people with type 2 diabetes make more nitrite in their saliva and better use nitric oxide in their body, which could be good for their health.

Women with high blood pressure have much lower levels of nitrite in their saliva than women with normal blood pressure.