Overview
- The peer-reviewed randomized crossover trial published June 19 found volunteers who chewed sugar-containing gum after drinking beetroot juice had a larger fall in saliva pH, about 45% higher mouth nitrite and about 25% higher circulating nitrite versus sugar-free gum.
- Those chemical changes were linked to modest blood-pressure drops of roughly 3 mmHg systolic and 2 mmHg diastolic that lasted only a few hours after the test session.
- The effect rests on a known pathway in which dietary nitrate is converted by oral bacteria into nitrite and then into nitric oxide, a molecule that relaxes blood vessels and lowers pressure.
- The study was small (about 14 participants) and short term, so authors call the result a proof of concept and ask for larger, longer trials and development of tooth-friendly, non-sugary ways to reproduce the saliva changes.
- Researchers and reporters caution this is not a recommendation to use sugary gum for blood-pressure control because repeated sugar exposure risks tooth decay and metabolic harm, though the finding could interest athletes who already use dietary nitrate for performance.