London: Want to stave off dementia? Drink a glass of beetroot juice daily, says a new study.
Researchers have carried out the study and found that a daily glass of beetroot juice could combat the onset of dementia among older adults -- the drink actually aids blood flow to the brain and halt age-related ailments.
Beetroot, like celery, cabbage and spinach, has a high concentration of nitrates, say the researchers.
According to them, when people eat high-nitrate foods, good bacteria in the mouth turn nitrate into nitrite. Research has already found nitrites can help open up the blood vessels in the body, increasing blood flow.
The study at North Carolina`s Wake Forest University is the first to link drinking nitrate-rich juice and blood flow, a newspaper reported.
In the study, researchers found that brain scans of volunteers showed that after a high-nitrate diet, older adults had more blood flow to the areas of the brain commonly linked to degeneration.
"There have been several very high-profile studies showing that drinking beetroot juice can lower blood pressure. But we wanted to show that it also increases blood flow to the brain," lead researcher Daniel Kim-Shapiro was quoted as saying.
PTI
