People with higher blood pressure to start with tend to see bigger drops in blood pressure when they take nitrate supplements.

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.

How well your mouth bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite is related to your resting blood pressure, though this relationship is only marginally significant.

How well your mouth bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite is related to how much your blood pressure drops after eating nitrate-rich food, even when accounting for your starting blood pressure.

Taking nitrate supplements lowers blood pressure, and the more you take, the more your blood pressure goes down. The biggest drop was about 9 mm Hg for systolic and 6 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure.

Taking nitrate-rich supplements every day can lower blood pressure just as much in people who aren't on blood pressure meds as in those who are—meaning it might help even more on top of their regular medicine.