Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
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.
Descriptive
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.
Correlational
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.
Women with high blood pressure have much less of the bacteria Veillonella in their mouths compared to women with normal blood pressure.
Women with high blood pressure have much lower levels of nitrite in their saliva than women with normal blood pressure.
Using a bee resin mouthwash for a week doesn't significantly reduce the variety of bacteria in the mouth, suggesting it might be better for maintaining a healthy oral microbiome than antibacterial mouthwash.
Quantitative
Using a common antibacterial mouthwash for a week can reduce the variety of bacteria in the mouth, which might make the oral environment less healthy.
Using a bee resin mouthwash for a week doesn't significantly reduce plaque buildup or gum bleeding, suggesting it might not work as well as antibacterial mouthwash for short-term oral hygiene.
Using a common antibacterial mouthwash for a week can reduce plaque buildup and gum bleeding, showing it works well for short-term oral hygiene.