The numbers don’t lie: 12% of the Spanish population is over 40 years old chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). From this we can make an estimate: approximately 2.2 million people suffer from this disease; more than 400 million people worldwide. The condition is more common among men, although the ratio has become more equal due to increased tobacco consumption among women.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a severe lung disease, which include chronic bronchitis and emphysema.Its main symptoms are Difficulty breathingwhich greatly limits the ability to perform any physical activity.
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease There is no cureTherefore, there is an urgent need to help patients with this disease live as well as possible and reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. In turn, people with COPD are more likely to die prematurely from myocardial infarction or lung cancer (symptoms).
For all these reasons, it is important to know what measures can be taken to prevent and How to Treat COPD Symptoms The further away the better. Obviously, the first thing to do is to quit smoking. But new ways are also being tested to ease the symptoms of this serious lung disease.The latest research to be published suggests trying beet juice supplementswhich also triggered health benefits People without COPD.
Although it may seem surprising, a team of researchers at Imperial College London (UK) concluded that daily supplementation with beet juice Lower blood pressure, improve muscle efficiency and improve symptoms in people with COPD. Specifically, they claimed that the distance walked in six minutes was significantly longer.
Results of the longest study on the subject published in a scientific journal european respiratory journal.In it they explain that scientists, led by Professor Nicholas Hopkinson, compared a supplement Beet juice concentrate with high nitrate content Has the same appearance and taste as placebo beet juice but does not contain nitrates.
because?Apparently, “there is some evidence that beet juice can be used as a source of nitrate supplements Athletes improve performanceand some short-term blood pressure studies,” Hopkinson explained.
Higher levels of nitrates in the blood “can increase the availability of nitric oxide, a chemical that helps relax blood vessels.” This “increases muscle efficiencymeaning they need less oxygen to do the same job,” he explains. Blueberries and other foods are also high in nitrates.
‘Promising’ results on blood pressure
A total of 81 COPD patients being treated at London’s Royal Brompton Hospital took part in the study.They all came up with a Systolic blood pressure greater than 130 Millimeters of mercury (mmHg). Systolic blood pressure is the highest level blood pressure reaches when the heart beats, and the ideal range is between 90 and 120 mmHg.
In addition to monitoring the patients’ blood pressure, the researchers also assessed how far they could walk in six minutes at the beginning and end of the study. The findings were published after 12 months of taking either a nitrate-rich beet supplement or a placebo.Specifically, this supplement includes 70 ml beet juice concentrate Contains 400 mg of nitrates.
Subjects taking nitrate-rich supplements achieved Lower your systolic blood pressure by 4.5 mmHg on average compared to those who took a placebo. They also increased the distance they walked in six minutes by an average of 30 meters.
“At the end of the study, people who drank the nitrate-rich beet juice drink had lower blood pressure and their blood vessels became less stiff. The juice also made people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease less likely to walk compared with placebo. The distance has increased by six minutes, “he concluded. Correlation? “This is one of the longest studies ever conducted in this field.” So, The results were “very promising.”, but they need to be confirmed in larger, longer-term studies. “