To fully understand why dietary nitrates matter, it’s best to step back and understand what they are: Nitrates are naturally-occurring, inorganic compounds found in our soil, water and air.
Nitrates are critical to health and performance
Research has shown we that nitrates are crucial and that’s why dietary nitrates—the nitrates found in the food we eat—are a hot topic. This is even more true among performance-oriented athletes.
In particular, when talking about nitrates, red beets have received a great deal of attention because of the high nitrate content and resulting ability to improve both cardiovascular health and athletic performance results they contain. They are considered a super-food.
How to dietary nitrates benefit your body?
Dietary nitrates make your heart and muscles more efficient. If we consume adequate amounts of dietary nitrates, our body will convert them into a short-lived gas called nitric oxide.
One of nitric oxide’s primary roles is the regulation of the delivery of oxygen to our muscles. They way this works is that it relaxes and opens the blood vessels; this improves blood flow.
The better our blood flow, the lower our blood pressure. Better blood flow also means there is an decreased demand placed on your skeletal musclesyou’re your heart.
Additional research shows dietary nitrates reduce the oxygen cost of exercise; this improves the function of our energy-producing mitochondria.
Bottom line on the role of nitrates in your diet
Your heart and muscles can do more work, do it more efficiently and with less perceived effort when your body is powered by an organic, high-nitrate supplement like Pure Clean Powder!
Getting nitrates from your diet
Leafy greens such as arugula (rucola), red-leaf spinach, and celery have the highest concentrations of nitrates, but red beets still offer the largest amount of dietary nitrates per gram.
Whole food diets matter
Until recently, nitrates (especially those used in processed meats as a preservative) were considered toxic. Long-term exposure to nitrates was believed to increase the risk of cancer.
We now understand nitrates are not carcinogenic; it’s the cooking and processing methods that are the underlying cause of concern. The cooking process can lead to nitrates (the compound formed in the body from dietary nitrates) forming carcinogenic nitrosamines (like N-nitrosodmethylamine, NDMA) when meat-containing nitrites or nitrates are cooked or grilled.
In October of 2015, the World Health Organization, classified processed meats as cancer-causing substances.
Nitrate bottom line
Synthetic nitrates added to grilled meats are vastly different than nitrates that are naturally occurring in fresh vegetables. Additionally, fresh vegetables are packed with a host of additional, health-protecting compounds (minerals, vitamins, antioxidants) that further enhance the actions and benefits of dietary nitrates.
Are you getting enough dietary nitrates?
This wasn’t a trick question and you don’t have to guess. With a nitric oxide assessment strip and a few drops of saliva, you can easily determine whether your food choices and/or dosage of Pure Clean Powder is enough to provide you with a positive—and measurable—impact on your performance.