Novel aspects of dietary nitrate and human health

The circulation of nitrogen in nature is a prerequisite for life on earth. In the nitrogen cycle atmospheric nitrogen is fixated by bacteria into forms that can be utilized by plants and mammals. Nitrate and nitrite are obligate intermediates in this cycle, and for more than half a century these anions have interested nutritional scientists, mostly in relation to cancer, because of their ability to form nitrosamines. However, after the discovery of mammalian endogenous nitric oxide (NO) generation and later that its oxidation products nitrate and nitrite can be recycled back to bioactive NO, a novel field of research has emerged that explores a potentially beneficial role of these anions in physiology, nutrition, and therapeutics. In our diet, vegetables are the major source of nitrate that can fuel a nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. Herein we discuss the nutritional aspects of this pathway and what is presently known about the implications for human health.