Beetroot juice and blood pressure in young Black and White adults
What it found
A single serving of beetroot juice lowered resting arm blood pressure by about 4 mmHg in young men but not women.
This was seen in both Black and White participants.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood pressure in men
After drinking the beetroot juice, resting arm blood pressure dropped by about 4 mmHg in young men. This happened in both Black and White men. Women did not see a drop in blood pressure from the juice.
Artery stiffness unchanged
The beetroot juice did not change how stiff the arteries were at rest. It also did not change blood pressure or artery stiffness during a hand squeezing exercise.
Nitrate levels rose
Drinking the beetroot juice raised nitrate and nitrite levels in the blood and saliva compared to the placebo drink. Across all participants, those with bigger rises in blood nitrate tended to have bigger drops in arm blood pressure.
Discrimination and blood pressure
Before the drinks were given, Black participants had higher resting blood pressure than White participants. Black participants also reported experiencing more racial discrimination, and this discrimination explained a large part of their higher blood pressure.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that a single dose of beetroot juice lowers arm blood pressure in young Black and White men by a similar amount.
- They note that the blood pressure drop was linked to rising nitrate levels in the blood, regardless of race or sex.
- They advise that more research is needed in older women and larger groups to understand why the juice did not lower blood pressure in young women.
How it was done
Black Americans tend to have higher blood pressure than White Americans, possibly linked to lower levels of a molecule called nitric oxide in the body. The authors wanted to see if beetroot juice, which is rich in nitrate that the body turns into nitric oxide, could lower blood pressure more in Black adults.
They gave 38 young Black and White adults (18 to 39 years old) either 140 ml of beetroot juice or a lookalike drink with the nitrate removed. Each person tried both drinks on separate days, and researchers measured heart rate, blood pressure, and artery stiffness before and about two hours after drinking.
What it can’t tell you
- This trial only looked at a single dose of beetroot juice, so it cannot show what happens if people drink it every day for months or years.
- All participants were young adults aged 18 to 39 recruited mostly from a college campus, so the results might not apply to older adults or the wider public.
- The group included only 38 people, which is too small to be certain the findings would hold up in a much larger study.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by NHLBI NIH HHS; NCATS NIH HHS (from the PubMed record).
- Conflicts
- Declaration of interest None.
- Authors work at
- Georgia Southern University, USA; University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA; Auburn University, USA
The paper
- Title
- Acute beetroot juice reduces blood pressure in young Black and White males but not females
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Grosicki GJ, Flatt AA, Cross BL, et al (2023). Acute beetroot juice reduces blood pressure in young Black and White males but not females. Redox biology. doi:10.1016/j.redox.2023.102718Free full textPubMed 37120928DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error