Chewing sugary bubble gum after drinking beetroot juice may temporarily lower blood pressure. Researchers at King's College London found that the combination helped the body produce 45 percent more nitrite, a compound that relaxes blood vessels.
The discovery came from a simple experiment. Healthy volunteers drank a shot of beetroot juice and then chewed either sugary Hubba Bubba gum or sugar-free Wrigley's Extra gum for three to six hours. The sugary gum made their saliva more acidic, which sped up the conversion of nitrate into nitrite.
How bacteria in the mouth turn vegetables into medicine
Nitrate from foods like beetroot, spinach, and kale does not directly help the body. Bacteria living on the tongue must first convert it into nitrite. That nitrite then enters the bloodstream and helps blood vessels widen, improving flow and lowering pressure.
Scientists have known this for years. But they have struggled to find ways to make the conversion more efficient. The King's College team wondered whether making saliva more acidic would help. Earlier work had shown that making saliva less acidic with grapefruit juice actually slowed the conversion. So they tested the opposite approach.
A crossover study with two types of gum
Each volunteer in the study completed the experiment twice, once with sugary gum and once with sugar-free gum, with at least one week between sessions. The researchers collected blood and saliva samples throughout and monitored blood pressure continuously.
Chewing the sugary Hubba Bubba dropped the pH of saliva by 1.4 points, making it significantly more acidic. That change led to a 45 percent increase in nitrite levels compared with the sugar-free gum. Blood pressure dropped temporarily as a result.
Dr. Andrew Webb, the study's lead researcher, said the findings answer a fundamental question about how mouth acidity affects nitrate conversion. The team hopes the work will lead to healthier ways to boost the cardiovascular benefits of dietary nitrate without relying on sugar.
The study was published in July 2026 and adds a surprising twist to the growing body of research on beetroot and heart health. For now, the effect is temporary and depends on chewing sugary gum, which carries its own health trade-offs. But the mechanism itself points toward new possibilities for improving how the body uses the nitrate already present in everyday vegetables.
