Objective: To verify if acute intake of beetroot juice potentiates post-exercise hypotension (PEH) in hypertensive postmenopausal women.
Methods: Thirteen hypertensive postmenopausal women (58.1 ± 4.62 years and 27.4 ± 4.25 kg/m²) were recruited to participate in three experimental sessions, taking three different beverages: Beetroot juice (BJ), placebo nitrate-depleted BJ (PLA), and orange flavored non-caloric drink (OFD). The participants performed moderate aerobic exercise training on a treadmill, at 65-70% of heart rate reserve (HRR), for 40 min. After an overnight fast, the protocol started at 07h when the first resting blood pressure (BP) was measured. The beverage was ingested at 07h30 and BP was monitored until the exercise training started, at 09h30. After the end of the exercise session, BP was measured every 15 min over a 90-min period. Saliva samples were collected at rest, immediately before and after exercise, and 90 min after exercise for nitrite (NO2-) analysis.
Results: There was an increase in salivary NO2- with BJ intake when compared to OFD and PLA. A slight increase in salivary NO2- was observed with PLA when compared to OFD (p < 0.05), however, PLA resulted in lower salivary NO2- when compared to BJ (p < 0.001). There were no changes in salivary NO2- with the OFD. Systolic and diastolic BP decreased (p < 0.001) on all post exercise time points after all interventions, with no difference between the three beverages.
Conclusion: Acute BJ intake does not change PEH responses in hypertensive postmenopausal women, even though there is an increase in salivary NO2-.
Keywords: Post Exercise Hypotension; hypertension; menopause; nitric oxide; nitrite.