High-Nitrate Diet May Be Good for the Aging Brain

They're good, again - nitrates, nitrites, that is.

And to think, just a short while ago they were bad, no good, no bad...(e.g., good, bad, good, bad).

In older adults, a high-nitrate diet may help improve regional cerebral blood flow in key areas of the brain involved in executive function, according to results of a small study from scientists at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In the study, those who consumed a diet high in nitrate-containing foods and beverages showed increased plasma nitrite levels and regional cerebral blood flow on perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

"Nitrate is converted by bacteria in the mouth into nitrite, and it's been shown that nitrite can vasodilate in the human circulation, especially under hypoxic conditions, which makes it attractive," Daniel Kim-Shapiro, PhD, professor of physics and director of the Translational Science Center at Wake Forest and a senior investigator on the study, noted in an interview with Medscape Medical News.

The study was published online November 5 in Nitric Oxide.

Still think they have any idea what a "healthy" food is?

They do not.

But you can eat healthily.

How to do that is known.