The Study
Inter-individual differences in the blood pressure lowering effects of dietary nitrate: a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled replicate crossover trial
This study showed that when healthy young men drank beetroot juice, their blood pressure usually went down—but not by the same amount for everyone. It’s like giving 15 kids the same candy and seeing who gets the most excited: some get super excited, some barely react. We can say the candy probably causes excitement, but only for these kids.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Beetroot juice has a natural chemical that can lower blood pressure, but not everyone responds the same way.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 580 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1A 7 mmHg drop is meaningful—similar to some blood pressure meds.
- 2Half the people saw drops big enough to matter for heart health.
- 3On average, blood pressure dropped by 7 mmHg.
- 4Some people dropped up to 24 mmHg, others saw no change or even a rise.
- 5Plasma nitrate levels stayed consistent for each person across doses.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
European Journal of Nutrition
Year
2024
Authors
E. Hayes, S. Alhulaefi, M. Siervo, Eleanor Whyte, R. Kimble, J. Matu, A. Griffiths, Marc Sim, M. Burleigh, Chris Easton, Lorenzo Lolli, Greg Atkinson, J. Mathers, O. Shannon
Related Content
Claims (6)
Taking 397 mg of dietary nitrate every day lowers systolic blood pressure by about 8 mmHg in people with hypertension.
In healthy young men, drinking beetroot juice in a single dose lowers systolic blood pressure by about 7 mmHg on average, but some men experience much larger drops up to 24 mmHg, while others see no change or even a rise in blood pressure.
In healthy young men, the change in systolic blood pressure and plasma nitrate levels after taking dietary nitrate supplements is consistently similar each time the supplement is taken.
In healthy young men, half of the individuals experience a drop in systolic blood pressure from dietary nitrate that is larger than the smallest change considered meaningful for health.
When healthy young men consume dietary nitrate supplements, their blood nitrate levels rise significantly and remain consistently high across repeated doses, while their nitrite levels also rise but vary more between doses, showing that the conversion of nitrate to nitrite differs more between individuals than the absorption of nitrate.
In healthy young men, changes in diastolic blood pressure after repeated nitrate intake vary widely and are not consistently linked to the nitrate dose, while systolic blood pressure changes are strongly and consistently linked to the dose.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.