The oral bioavailability of nitrate from vegetables investigated in healthy volunteers

The major source of human nitrate exposure comes from vegetables. Several studies were performed to estimate the total daily dietary nitrate intake based on the nitrate contents of food and drinking water. However, only nitrate that is absorbed from the gastro-intestinal tract may contribute to the toxicity of nitrate in the body. At present no data are available on the bioavailability of nitrate from vegetables. Therefore the present study was performed to evaluate the oral bioavailability of nitrate from frequently consumed nitrate-rich vegetables. In a crossover design 12 participants were administered 365 mg nitrate intravenously and 300 grams of spinach, lettuce and beetroot with, respectively, 564 mg, 1013 mg and 643 mg nitrate. Plasma samples were collected to determine the nitrate concentration so as to calculate the bioavailability of nitrate from the vegetables. Correcting for the endogenous nitrate production, the oral bioavailability of nitrate (mean plusminus 15%) was revealed to be 98% (plusminus 12%) for spinach, 113% (plusminus 14%) for lettuce and 106% (plusminus 15% for beetroot. When the endogenous nitrate production was not taken into account, the bioavailability was 91% (plusmunis 10%) for spinach, 89% (plusminus 13%) for lettuce and 93% (plusminus 12%) for beetroot. From these results, the oral bioavailability of nitrate from spinach, lettuce and beetroot is concluded to be very high.