Peters, GS 1,2, Henderson, K2. Stone MR1. THE INFLUENCE OF ACUTE DIETARY NITRATE SUPPLEMENTATION ON CARDIOVASCULAR PARAMETERS AT REST Peters, GS 1,2, Henderson, K2. Stone MR1. 1Buckinghamshire New University, School of Sport Management, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Bucks, UK. 2Buckinghamshire New University, Faculty of Society & Health, Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK Age (y) Stature (m) Mass (kg) VO2 (ml/kg/min) SBP DBP Mean 29.0 1.76 78.1 48.4 129 80 SD 6.9 0.06 7.7 4.8 12.3 13.1 Introduction Discussion Recently dietary nitrate supplementation (DNS) has gained a great deal of interest in the fields of both health and performance as a functional food with ergogenic properties. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been shown to reduce blood pressure (Appel, et.al., 1997). Furthermore chronic dietary nitrate supplementation (in the form of beetroot juice) can reduce blood pressure in hypertensive populations (Kapil et.al., 2014). However, little has examined acute effects of dietary nitrate on blood pressure. The aim of the study therefore is to examine the acute effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on the cardiovascular system during a rested state. Mean systolic BP saw a reduction of 129 to 126 mmHg for BRJ v PL respectively – a reduction of 3%. Similarly Diastolic BP was lowered from 82 to 79 mmHg, a reduction of 2.3%. Whilst SBP and DBP reductions are not as large a reduction as similar studies (Vanhatalo et al. 2010), the health implications of reduced blood pressure are obvious. Blood pressure was not monitored after the volunteer left, but similar research on chronic supplementation (Kapil et.al, 2014) suggests that BP during 24 h ambulatory monitoring remains reduced by around 7%. Acute dietary nitrate supplementation may be beneficial in reducing RPP and therefore myocardial workload in normotensive individuals. A larger sample size may further influence the SBP and DBP values of the current study. Figure 1: Demographic data of participants Figure 2: Participant undergoing assessment Results Methods Seven normotensive volunteers mean (SD) age 29 y (6.9), were required for two visits. After five minutes of rest, volunteers ingested a 70 ml shot of Beetroot juice containing 0.4 g (4mmol) of dietary nitrate, or 70ml placebo in a doubly blind randomised crossover study. During 60 min of rest haematological parameters including blood pressure (BP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), rate pressure product (RPP) and heart rate (HR), were recorded non invasively, using a Midi Finometer (Smart Medical, Moreton in Marsh , UK) along with pulmonary gas exchange (Medicalgraphics. St Paul, Boston). Data was collated every five min, with the mean of the preceding 30 seconds calculated. Figure 1 shows set up of volunteer.   References Appel LJ, Moore TJ, Obarzanek E, et al (1997) A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure. N Engl J Med;336:1117-24.  Kapil, V., Khambata, RS., Robertson, A. Caulfield, MJ., and Ahluwalia, A. (2014) Dietary Nitrate Provides Sustained Blood Pressure Lowering in Hypertensive Patients. Hypertension. November 24. Kenjale, A. Ham, K. L., Stabler, T., Robbins, J. L., Johnson, J. L., Vanbruggen, M., Allen, J. D. (2011). Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances exercise performance in peripheral arterial disease. Journal of Applied Physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985), 110(March 2011), 1582–1591. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00071.2011 Vanhatalo, A., Bailey, S. J., Blackwell, J. R., DiMenna, F. J., Pavey, T. G., Wilkerson, D. P., … Jones, A. M. (2010). Acute and chronic effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on blood pressure and the physiological responses to moderate-intensity and incremental exercise. American Journal of Physiology. Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 299(4), R1121–R1131. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00206.2010 Email: gary.peters@bucks.ac.uk @gary_s_peters = mean