Beet for brains

Loss of mental function as you age is one of the great fears for many people. So the news that a humble vegetable juice might help support your brain will be welcomed by many.

A new study has asked subjects to fast for ten hours and then report to the lab for breakfast. The subjects were then given one of two breakfasts. One of those breakfasts included 450ml of beetroot juice. All subjects were then sent home with lunch, dinner and snacks conforming with the type of breakfast they had been given.

On the following day, after another ten hour fast, the subjects returned to the lab and ate the same breakfast as the day before. Then one hour after the breakfast a magnetic resonance image (MRI) was used to track blood flow in the subjects brains.

This was process was repeated four days later with the subjects switching the type of breakfast that they consumed.

The MRIs showed that after having the beetroot juice and the associated diet there was an increase in blood flow to white matter in the frontal lobes of the brains. These are the areas of the brain associated with dementia and loss of other mental functions.

The reason that beetroot juice had this effect was due to its high nitrate content. Beetroot as well as celery, cabbage, and spinach are excellent sources of nitrate. In your mouth good bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite and nitrites help open up blood vessels in your body.

So starting your day with some beetroot juice and following it up through the day with nitrate rich foods may be an excellent way to help you beet dementia.

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