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In rats, higher nitrate levels in blood and saliva were linked to lower blood pressure, showing how the body's nitrate system might help control blood pressure.
Rats using the special mouthwash had more good bacteria in their mouths that help convert nitrate to nitric oxide, compared to rats using regular mouthwash.
The special mouthwash made rats' saliva have 5.7 times more nitrate and 6.3 times more nitrite than regular mouthwash, which helps the body's natural blood pressure regulation system.
Rats using a special nitrate mouthwash had their blood pressure drop significantly (15% systolic, 29% diastolic) after one week, while rats using regular mouthwash didn't see any change.
A special mouthwash with nitrate and antioxidants made rats' blood nitrate levels jump 32 times higher than regular mouthwash after one week, which might help their heart health.
The small blood pressure increase from using the special mouthwash was similar in size to what's known to increase the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Even when people ate a diet low in nitrate, using the special mouthwash still increased their blood pressure, which suggests the effect comes from the body's own nitrate recycling process.
When people used the special mouthwash, their blood pressure went up but their heart rate didn't change, which suggests the effect is specific to blood pressure regulation.
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 blood pressure increase from using the special mouthwash happened both during the day and at night, with the diastolic pressure going up more during the day.
The blood pressure increase from using the special mouthwash was the same whether measured at the doctor's office, at home, or with a 24-hour monitor.
Using a special mouthwash for a week made nitrate levels go up in saliva, blood, and urine compared to before using the mouthwash.
When nitrite levels in the blood went down after using mouthwash, blood pressure went up, and this connection was strong enough to be statistically significant.
When people used the special mouthwash, their blood pressure went up within one day and stayed higher for the whole week they used it.
Good bacteria in the mouth turn nitrate into nitrite, and when you kill these bacteria with mouthwash, this conversion stops almost completely.
Using a special mouthwash for a week killed some good bacteria in the mouth, which made less nitrite in saliva and blood, and this caused blood pressure to go up a little bit.
Researchers wanted to see if differences in mouth bacteria and nitrate-processing ability explain why some people's blood pressure goes down more than others after eating nitrate-rich food.
Researchers measured blood pressure and nitrate/nitrite levels in blood and saliva 2.5 hours after giving women a nitrate-rich drink.
Researchers studied 55 women (some pregnant, some not, some with high blood pressure, some without) to see how their mouth bacteria and nitrate-processing ability relate to blood pressure changes after eating nitrate-rich food.
Researchers gave women a drink with 400 mg of nitrate (from beetroot juice) to see how it affected their blood pressure and nitrate/nitrite levels.
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.
How well your mouth bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite is related to your resting blood pressure, though this relationship is only marginally significant.
Women with high blood pressure tend to have slightly lower mouth bacteria activity for converting nitrate to nitrite compared to women with normal blood pressure, though this difference isn't quite statistically significant.
Whether a woman is pregnant or not doesn't seem to affect how well her mouth bacteria can convert nitrate to nitrite.