A simple chemical found in green leafy vegetables may play a key role in heart health, researchers reported last night.
British researchers released a series of studies showing the effects of nitrate – a molecule consisting of one atom of nitrogen and three of oxygen – on health.
They say the chemical improves the efficiency of the heart, improves blood supply to the organs and is linked to reduced risk of diabetes and obesity.
The project has been backed by the British Heart Foundation and undertaken at the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton.
The researchers identify spinach and beetroot as key sources of nitrate in the diet.
One study, led by Dr Andrew Murray, from Cambridge, showed the substance protect vital proteins in heart cells and increased the production of compounds widening the blood vessels.
Writing in The Journal of Physiology, he says this would allow the heart to pump more efficiently, alleviating the symptoms of diseases of the heart and circulation.
Another study, in the journal Diabetes, shows that nitrate stimulates the conversion of white fat cells into "beige" cells, similar to brown fat cells that burn fat to produce heat.
A third study involved work with mountaineers and suggests nitrates can help to thin blood while allowing it to carry high levels of oxygen – which would normally thicken it. This was published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.
Dr Murray said: "These studies represent three further ways in which simple changes in the diet can modify people’s risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity as well as potentially alleviating symptoms of existing cardiovascular conditions to achieve an overall healthier life.”
Suppression of erythropoiesis by dietary nitrate FASEB 24 November 2014; j fj.14-263004.
Dietary nitrate increases arginine availability and protects mitochondrial complex I and energetics in the hypoxic rat heart J Physiol December 2014; 592:4715-31
Inorganic Nitrate Promotes the Browning of White Adipose Tissue through the Nitrate-Nitrite-Nitric Oxide Pathway Diabetes December 2014; doi:10.2337/db14-0496
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