Dietary Nitrate From Beetroot Juice Promising for Pregnant Women With CKD

TUESDAY, Aug. 11, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For pregnant women with chronic kidney disease (CKD), receipt of dietary nitrate from beetroot juice is associated with lower median creatinine concentrations and fewer serious adverse events, according to a study published online July 17 in Kidney International Reports.

Priscilla Smith, M.B.B.S., from King”s College London, and colleagues randomly assigned pregnant women with grade 2 to 5 CKD (<25 weeks of gestation) at eight centers in the United Kingdom to standard care or daily beetroot juice (dietary nitrate, 400 mg). A total of 108 women were randomly assigned; 54 to each arm.

The researchers found that compared with standard care, women with a prepregnancy estimated glomerular filtration rate <45 mL/min/1.73 m² receiving dietary nitrate tended to have lower median creatinine (Cr) concentrations postpartum (six-week Cr: 176 versus 226 µmol/L; six-month Cr: 173 versus 216 µmol/L). Compared with standard care, with dietary nitrate, admission to a neonatal unit or neonatal intensive care unit also tended to be lower (23.3 versus 39.6 percent). Eleven serious adverse events were experienced by seven women receiving dietary nitrate compared with 53 serious adverse events among 27 women receiving standard care (23.3 versus 50.9 percent). Fewer participants in the dietary nitrate group took any antihypertensive medications during pregnancy in a post-hoc analysis (36.7 versus 66.0 percent).

“Our findings suggest beetroot juice could offer a simple and accessible approach that is safe and worth exploring further,” Smith said in a statement.

One author holds shares in HeartBeet, which receives a royalty from James White Drinks, the manufacturer of the beetroot juice used in the study.

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