When you eat foods with natural nitrates, like spinach or beets, bacteria in your mouth turn them into nitrite, which then travels through your blood and becomes nitric oxide—a molecule that helps your blood vessels relax.

This study showed that drinking beetroot juice (which has natural nitrates) lowers blood pressure, and scientists know that our mouth bacteria turn those nitrates into nitrite, which then becomes nitric oxide in the body to relax blood vessels — exactly what the claim says.

The study found that when people eat inorganic nitrate (like in beets or spinach), bacteria in their mouth turn it into nitrite, which then gets into the blood and helps make nitric oxide — just like the claim says.

The study says that nitrates in vegetables turn into nitrite in your mouth, then into nitric oxide in your blood, which helps your blood vessels work better — exactly what the claim says.

The study shows that eating inorganic nitrate (like in beets or leafy greens) helps good mouth bacteria turn it into nitrite, which then turns into nitric oxide in the body — exactly what the claim says.