Taking nitrates (nitric acid metabolites) will help increase athletes' physical performance, according to a new study by the Federation of American Communities Experimental Biology (FASEB). The study explains how some of the nitrate supplements work and due to what an increase in sports performance is achieved (reduced blood viscosity, improved blood flow, ensuring the necessary level of oxygen supply to body tissues).

Nitrate supplements improve athletic performance. The researchers analyzed the effects of nitrate supplements on hemoglobin in four groups of rats living in normoxic or hypoxic (low oxygen levels) conditions.. Animals received supplements in the form of sodium nitrate or sodium chloride (common table salt, the control substance). Also, researchers carefully recorded the flow of nitrates in the composition of food and drinking water.. Hypoxia is known to increase the level of hemoglobin in the blood, but nitrate supplements in moderate amounts significantly suppress this effect..

Researchers found that nitrates also led to a decrease in hemoglobin in the blood of normoxic rats. They also found that with increasing doses of nitrates, the hemoglobin level again began to increase.

Scientists examined the mechanisms underlying these effects.. It turned out that hemoglobin suppression occurred due to an increase in liver oxygenation by nitrates and blocking the expression of the hormone erythropoietin. Conversely, when hemoglobin levels decreased, kidney oxygenation also decreased.. With a higher dose of nitrate supplements, this gave an increase in the expression of erythropoietin (the opposite effect).

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