Imagine if a simple drink could help people with heart problems. Well, it’s not just imagination. Beetroot juice does this job.
This was found in a study in England. The findings were shared at a big meeting of heart experts in Manchester.
The Big Minds Behind the Study
Two important groups joined hands for the study. The National Institute for Health and Care Research and the British Heart Foundation.
These groups have a lot of knowledge about health. The study was done by scientists at St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen Mary University in London.
Exciting Findings
The scientists found something amazing. Heart patients who drank beetroot juice every day for six months had less trouble.
Normally, about 16 out of 100 of these patients have serious issues within two years. But, when they drank beetroot juice, only about 7.5 out of 100 had issues. That’s a big improvement!
The Challenge of Angina
Every year, many people in the UK get a heart problem called angina. Doctors help them by doing surgery.
In this surgery, they put a small tube called a stent in a blood vessel of the heart. This makes the blood flow better and lessens the pain.
But sometimes, a problem can happen. The blood vessel can become narrow again. This problem is called restenosis.
It can bring back heart pain. This happens to about 10 out of 100 patients within five years after the surgery.
Scientists think that beetroot juice can help solve this problem. Their study showed that patients who had beetroot juice had less narrowing in their blood vessels.
How Beetroot Juice Helps
How does beetroot juice do this? It’s because beetroot juice has a thing called inorganic nitrate. It’s a natural part of the juice.
This nitrate changes into other things in our bodies. These things help our blood vessels work better.
The Experts’ Views
Dr. Krishnaraj Rathod, who led the study, was very happy about the findings. He said the patients liked the treatment because it’s natural and has no bad side effects, except for pink pee.
Professor James Leiper, from the British Heart Foundation, said this study gives hope. But, he also said they need to do more studies to make sure beetroot juice really helps.
What’s Next?
The scientists want to do a bigger study now. They hope to find out if beetroot juice really helps. If it does, doctors may start telling heart patients to drink beetroot juice.
This could help not just people with angina but also people who had a stent for other reasons, like after a heart attack.
If you care about heart health, please read studies about how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk, and herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how drinking milk affects the risks of heart disease and cancer, and results showing DASH diet is good for your blood pressure, and a vegetable diet may reduce heart disease risk.
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