Beetroot can lower systolic blood pressure by about 4 to 5 mmHg and diastolic pressure by around 2 mmHg when consumed daily as part of your regular diet. That reduction is modest but meaningful, roughly equivalent to what some first-line blood pressure medications achieve. The effect comes from beetroot’s high concentration of dietary nitrates, which your body converts into a molecule that relaxes and widens blood vessels.
Why Beetroot Lowers Blood Pressure
Beetroot is one of the richest dietary sources of inorganic nitrate. When you eat or drink it, the nitrate follows a specific path through your body. First, your salivary glands concentrate it and release it into your mouth, where bacteria living on the back of your tongue convert nitrate into a related compound called nitrite. You swallow that nitrite, and some of it reacts with stomach acid to produce nitric oxide. The rest enters your bloodstream, where proteins in your blood and tissues finish the conversion.
Nitric oxide is the key player. It signals the smooth muscle in your artery walls to relax, which widens the vessels and reduces the pressure your blood exerts against them. This is the same mechanism targeted by several classes of blood pressure medication, just triggered through food instead of a pill.
One important detail: this entire process depends on those mouth bacteria doing their job. If you use antibacterial mouthwash regularly, you may be killing off the very bacteria that kick-start the conversion. Some research has shown that antiseptic mouthwash can blunt the blood pressure benefits of dietary nitrate.
How Quickly It Works
Beetroot juice starts lowering blood pressure faster than most people expect. In clinical testing, a single dose produced a measurable drop in systolic pressure within about 45 minutes. The active compounds in your blood peak around 2 to 3 hours after you drink the juice, which is when the effect is strongest.
A single dose can bring systolic pressure down by about 7 mmHg. But daily use over a week produces a larger and more consistent effect. In one study of older adults, a week of daily beetroot juice lowered resting systolic pressure from an average of 134 mmHg to 120 mmHg, a 14-point drop measured about 45 minutes after their daily dose. That’s a substantially greater reduction than what a single serving delivers, suggesting the benefits build with consistent use.
How Much to Consume
Most clinical studies showing blood pressure benefits have used doses providing 5 to 10 millimoles of dietary nitrate per day. In practical terms, that translates to roughly 250 to 500 milliliters (about 1 to 2 cups) of beetroot juice daily, depending on the concentration. Many studies use commercially available concentrated beetroot juice “shots” of about 70 mL (roughly 2.4 ounces), which pack a standardized nitrate dose into a small volume.
If you prefer whole beets over juice, you’ll need to eat a larger volume since chewing and digesting a whole vegetable releases nitrate more slowly than drinking concentrated juice. A medium-sized raw beet contains a meaningful amount of nitrate, but two to three beets per day would be a reasonable target for blood pressure purposes.
Juice, Whole Beets, or Supplements
Raw beetroot juice is the most studied form and delivers nitrates in a readily absorbable way. It’s also the easiest to standardize, so you know roughly how much nitrate you’re getting each time. Concentrated juice shots, widely available in health food stores, are the format used in most clinical trials.
Whole raw or roasted beets still contain nitrates but in less predictable amounts. Boiling beets causes some nitrate to leach into the cooking water, so if you boil them, using the cooking liquid in soups or smoothies helps preserve what would otherwise be lost. Steaming and roasting retain more nitrate than boiling.
An interesting finding from recent research complicates the supplement picture. A 2025 meta-analysis specifically looked at isolated nitrate supplements (sodium nitrate capsules, not beetroot juice) and found they did not significantly lower blood pressure. The researchers noted that even nitrate-depleted beetroot juice, used as a placebo in some studies, still lowered blood pressure to some degree. This suggests that beetroot’s benefit isn’t just about the nitrate alone. Other compounds naturally present in the whole food, including pigments called betalains and various antioxidants, likely contribute to the effect. In other words, drinking actual beetroot juice appears more effective than taking a nitrate pill.
Best Ways to Prepare It
For maximum blood pressure benefit, raw juice is your best option. You can make it at home with a juicer or blender. A simple approach: juice two to three medium beets and mix with a small amount of apple or carrot juice to offset the earthy flavor. Adding lemon juice helps with taste and also creates an acidic environment that may support nitrate-to-nitrite conversion in your stomach.
If raw juice isn’t appealing, try these alternatives:
- Smoothies: Blend raw beet chunks with berries, banana, and yogurt. The raw form preserves full nitrate content.
- Concentrated shots: Store-bought beetroot juice shots (around 70 mL) are convenient and provide a consistent dose.
- Roasted beets: Wrap whole beets in foil and roast at moderate heat. This retains more nitrate than boiling and works well in salads or as a side dish.
- Beet powder: Dehydrated beetroot powder can be stirred into water or smoothies. Nitrate content varies by brand, so look for products that list nitrate concentration on the label.
Timing matters if you’re looking for a specific window of lower blood pressure, for instance before exercise or a stressful event. Drink the juice about 2 to 3 hours beforehand, when blood levels of the active compounds are at their highest.
Side Effects to Know About
The most common and completely harmless side effect is beeturia: your urine or stool turning pink or red. This happens in a significant percentage of people and is simply the beet pigment passing through your system. It’s not blood and doesn’t indicate any problem.
A more meaningful concern is oxalates. Beetroot is high in oxalic acid, which can contribute to kidney stone formation in people who are prone to calcium oxalate stones. If you have a history of kidney stones or chronic kidney disease, large daily amounts of beetroot juice may not be a good fit.
Beetroot juice can also interact with blood pressure medications. Because both the juice and the medication work to lower blood pressure, combining them can cause pressure to drop too low. Symptoms of this include dizziness, lightheadedness, and feeling faint, particularly when standing up quickly. This additive effect is especially relevant if you take ARBs, ACE inhibitors, or diuretics. The same logic applies to erectile dysfunction medications, which also work by widening blood vessels through nitric oxide pathways. If you’re on any of these medications, adjusting your beetroot intake gradually and monitoring your blood pressure at home gives you a clearer picture of the combined effect.
What Realistic Results Look Like
Across a broad range of clinical studies, the average blood pressure reduction from daily beetroot consumption lands at about 4 to 5 mmHg systolic and 2 mmHg diastolic. That’s a population average, meaning some people respond more and others less. People with higher baseline blood pressure tend to see larger drops than those who start with mildly elevated readings.
To put those numbers in perspective, a sustained 5 mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure is associated with roughly a 10% lower risk of major cardiovascular events at a population level. Beetroot juice won’t replace medication for someone with significantly high blood pressure, but as one component of a dietary approach, it contributes a clinically relevant effect, comparable to reducing sodium intake or adding regular walking to your routine.
Consistency is what makes the difference. A single glass of beetroot juice provides a temporary dip. Daily consumption over weeks builds a more stable and pronounced reduction, as the one-week dosing study demonstrated with its 14-point systolic improvement compared to a 7-point drop from a single dose.