Xtreme Everest researchers find new nitrate benefits

XtremeEverest researchers have shown that eating more leafy greens such as spinach and kale could thin the blood and help oxygen get where it is needed in the body more efficiently.

Recent research undertaken by Professor Martin Feelisch and Dr Andrew Murray, part-funded by the British Heart Foundation, has shown that the simple chemical nitrate can improve the heart’s efficiency and blood supply to organs and so help reduce risk of diabetes and obesity. It does this by reducing the body's production of EPO, the hormone that stimulates red cell production. By helping to reduce the thickness of blood, this may also decrease instances of dangerous clots forming. Overall, this can help reduce the risks of stroke and heart attacks.

As well as implications for cardiac patients, the research may have broader implications in sport science, and could aid recovery of patients in intensive care.

Some congenital heart defects cause blood to bypass the lungs, where it usually picks up oxygen, and the blood is therefore unable to supply organs and tissues with the oxygen they need. This is called hypoxia and is a major symptom of many other cardiovascular diseases and a major factor in altitude sickness. 

The body responds to low oxygen levels by making more red blood cells. If the body is starved of oxygen for a long time, as in some heart diseases and at altitude, too many red blood cells are produced making the blood thick. When blood becomes too thick it is no longer able to pass through all the small veins and arteries and therefore cannot efficiently supply organs and tissues with the oxygen they need to work. This can be fatal. 

Researchers found that as well as helping to thin the blood, nitrate can assist a diseased heart to function more efficiently, contribute to the production of nitric oxide that widens and opens blood vessels and also help to change bad white fat cells into good brown, fat burning cells. All of this could combat obesity and reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Professor Feelisch, from the University of Southampton, said: “These findings suggest simple dietary changes may offer treatments for people suffering from heart and blood vessel diseases that cause too many red blood cells to be produced. It is also exciting as it may have broader implications in sport science, and could aid recovery of patients in intensive care by helping us understand how oxygen can be delivered to our cells more efficiently”.