Dietary nitrate supplementation protects against adverse blood vessel flow patterns in a menopause stage-specific manner

The loss of estrogen during menopause is associated with a reduction in the vascular protective molecule, nitric oxide (NO). The present study determined if beetroot juice (BrJ), a rich source of nitrate (which is converted to NO) can reduce adverse (oscillatory shear) blood flow patterns in post-menopausal (PMW) women. We found that 7 days of nitrate-rich BrJ consumption reduced oscillatory shear to a greater extent (time x treatment) in early-PMW than in late-PMW (p=0.047).