You can reduce the risk of heart disease without resorting to prescription drugs, by taking advantage a very under rated root vegetable that you will find on in your own garden or on the supermarket shelf.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects million of people around the world, and is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure, So any natural remedy is welcome news

Amrita Ahluwalia, Professor of Vascular Biology at the William Harvey Research Institute, has released finding of research they have been conduction over the past two years into natural foods to lower blood pressure levels.

He said: "We showed that the root vegetable ‘beet'. and nitrate capsules are equally effective in lowering blood pressur". Indicating that it is the nitrate content of beetroot juice that underlies its potential to reduce blood pressure.

"We also found that only a small amount of juice is needed - just 250ml - to have this effect, and that the higher the blood pressure at the start of the study the greater the decrease caused by the nitrate".

'Our previous study two years ago found that drinking beetroot juice lowered blood pressure; now we know how it works.'

It has been well established that there is a relationship of reduced risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and blood total and LDL cholesterol. Therefore a natural way of reducing the blood pressure is a major factor to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Other researchers at William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University in London compared patients who were given a 250ml glass of beetroot juice a day with those who took nitrate tablets
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They found that the two methods were equally successful in reducing blood pressure.

The researchers concluded that the nitrates which naturally occur in beetroot are the cause of its beneficial effects. They produce a gas known as nitric oxide in the blood, which widens blood vessels and arteries and lowers blood pressure. Nitric oxide removes the high glucose amount from the blood to ensure a better flow of blood through the blood vessels.

Potassium nitrate successfully combats high blood pressure and was once used as a hypotensive. Other nitrates and nitrites such as glyceryl trinitrate (nitroglycerin), amyl nitrite and isosorbide derivatives are still used to relieve angina

The study conducted in healthy volunteers that looked at the short-term effect of beetroot juice on blood pressure. The volunteers who drank the beetroot juice had a drop in blood pressure between two-and-a-half and three hours after drinking.

If this research can be replicated with other vegetables and in people with high blood pressure, this would further confirm the benefits of a healthy, vegetable-rich diet

The study was supported by fellowships from the Welcome Trust and the British Heart Foundation. It was published in the (peer-reviewed) medical journal of the American Heart Association: Hypertension.

The research will be welcome news to people with high blood pressure who might now be able to use a more 'natural' vegetable-rich diet approach to reduce the risk of heart disease including stroke