A beet-juice supplementation pilot in older adults with coronary artery disease moved flow-mediated dilation

What the research found

Soonhuae and colleagues report a pilot trial in Experimental Gerontology (November 2026; volume 225; article 113343; Epub 29 September 2026; DOI 10.1016/j.exger.2026.113343; PMID 42810600). Eight older adults with coronary artery disease, 6 men and 2 women, age 74 years (SD 8), body mass index 29.2 (SD 5.0), completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover of a dietary nitrate supplement, taken as beetroot juice. For two weeks, twice a day, they took nitrate-rich beetroot juice or a nitrate-depleted beetroot placebo, then crossed over. Retention was 100 percent, adherence was 100 percent, and no adverse effects needed medical treatment. Flow-mediated dilation changed by +0.98 percentage points after the nitrate-rich juice (90 percent CI 0.17 to 1.80; Hedges g 0.72). The placebo mean change was -0.75 percent (90 percent CI -1.53 to 0.04). The nitrate-rich arm was 1.73 percentage points higher than placebo (90 percent CI 0.32 to 3.15; Hedges g 0.73). Arterial stiffness and hemodynamics barely moved. This is a pilot of eight people. It is not proof of a heart benefit a clinician should act on. Not medical advice, and not a substitute for clinician-directed heart care. Both sexes were included, so the gender tag is all, not men.

Evidence level: Clinical trial. This is among the stronger kinds of evidence, but one study rarely settles a question.

Read the original at PubMed