Inorganic nitrate: a major player in the cardiovascular health benefits of vegetables?: Nutrition Reviews©, Vol. 67, No. 1
Open accessAbstract
Epidemiological evidence suggests a higher consumption of vegetables confers a protective effect against the risk of cardiovascular disease. Impaired bioavailability of nitric oxide (NO), which is a critical regulator of vascular homeostasis, in the vasculature is thought to be a major problem in cardiovascular disease. Classically, vascular endothelium is suggested to be the sole source of bioactive NO in the vasculature. Emerging literature, however, associates the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway, in which endogenous nitrate undergoes reduction to nitrite and then to NO in various tissues, including blood, with the production of bioactive NO. Indeed, NO generated from the nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway has recently been associated with the maintenance of NO homeostasis in the body. Endogenous nitrate originates mostly from NO oxidation in the biological milieu and from exposure to dietary nitrate. Consumption of vegetables accounts for approximately 80-85% of daily nitrate exposure in humans, thereby establishing inorganic nitrate as a promising factor in the cardiovascular health benefits of vegetables. At this point in time, however, the benefit : hazard ratio of inorganic nitrate and its active metabolite nitrite remains less clear and must be studied in prospective controlled studies. This brief review discusses the potential role of inorganic dietary nitrate in the cardiovascular health benefits of vegetables.
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There is still controversy about the potential health impacts of crop-based [nitrate/nitrite] dietary intake.
“However, while increasing dietary intake levels is widely considered to be potentially harmful for human health, there is still controversy about the potential health impacts of crop-based dietary intake( 65 – 67 ).”
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- Authors
- Machha, A., & Schechter, A. N.
- Affiliations
- California Northstate University (US)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Schechter, Alan N
- ORCID
- Schechter, Alan N
- Venue
- Nutrition Reviews
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2012-04-19
- Volume
- 70
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 367-372
- ISSN
- 0029-6643 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3367800
- OpenAlex
- W2166127992
- Cited by
- 51
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 3 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 0.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nutrition Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (ZIADK025104)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nitric Oxide and Endothelin Effects
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine › Cardiovascular Health and Disease Prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- inorganic nitrate, dietary nitrate, nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway, nitric oxide bioavailability, cardiovascular disease prevention, vegetables, nitrite, vascular endothelium, nitric oxide homeostasis
- MeSH terms
- Biological Availability, Cardiovascular Diseases, Humans, Nitrates, Nitric Oxide, Nitrites, Nutritional Physiological Phenomena, Risk Factors, Vegetables
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