Men tend to have bigger blood pressure drops than women when taking nitrate supplements, even though both groups get similar increases in nitrite levels in their blood.

When people take a supplement called inorganic nitrate, women’s bodies turn more of it into nitrite than men’s do — so women end up with higher levels of nitrite in their blood.

Women tend to have more nitrite in their bodies than men when they're at rest, even though both have similar levels of nitrate—this suggests their bodies might process these chemicals differently just by being male or female.

When nitrite levels in the blood go up after taking nitrate supplements, blood pressure tends to go down more. The higher the nitrite increase, the bigger the blood pressure drop.

Women naturally have higher nitrite levels in their blood than men, which may help explain why women typically have lower blood pressure than men.

Your mouth has good bacteria that turn nitrate from food into nitrite, and this process works differently in men and women, which might affect how well their blood vessels work.