Dietary Nitrite Reduces Heart Attack Damage

Here’s another reason to eat your leafy greens: in the event of a heart attack, the chemical nitrite, found in many vegetables, may minimize the tissue damage caused by heart attacks.

Dr. Lefer says that the nitrite levels found cardioprotective in his study can easily be achieved by consuming more vegetables containing the chemical. That dietary change, he says, might be especially helpful for people at increased heart-attack risk—those who’ve already suffered a heart attack, have been diagnosed with cardiovascular disease or have a family history of it.

“Our study suggests that building up nitrite stores in heart muscle could spell the difference between a mild heart attack and one that causes lasting heart damage or death,” says Dr. Lefer. “And since nitrite also accumulate in the brain, they could potentially help minimize the damage from strokes as well.”

Dietary nitrite comes mainly from vegetables— celery, beets, and spinach, lettuce and other leafy types. Another related compound, nitrate, is commonly used as a preservative cured meats such as bacon, sausage and luncheon meats. Consuming nitrate augments our nitrite supply: Once absorbed in the bloodstream, nitrate circulates to the salivary glands where bacteria convert it to nitrite, which is then swallowed in our saliva.