“Beeting” Heart Disease with beet juice

Drinking beet juice can help postmenopausal women lower their heart disease risk.

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As postmenopausal women look for ways to lower their heart disease risk, they may need look no further than the grocery store for beetroot juice, according to a recent study.

Beet juice is full of nitrates. Therefore, drinking it each day can help keep women’s blood vessels and heart a  little healthier. Why is that? Because when the body changes nitrates into nitric oxide, it makes blood vessels expand, which leads to easier blood flow. 

Beet Juice and Nitrates After Menopause

One reason this beet juice, and nitrates overall, are so beneficial for postmenopausal women is because when a woman stops producing estrogen, it lowers her nitrate levels. 

Other foods that have high levels of nitrates are leafy greens such as spinach. A list of 15 heart-healthy foods can be found here. 

Important Note about Nitrates

You may be reading this and thinking, “I thought nitrates were bad.” When they’re added to foods, such as processed meats, it can have negative effects, such as increasing a person’s cancer risk. But when it occurs naturally in plants, that kind of nitrate is different.