Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) proteins and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) have been associated with microvascular endothelial dysfunction. Although nitrate-rich beetroot juice (NR-BJ) consumption has been shown to improve endothelial function in clinical population, its effects in the HIV-infected patients has not been addressed. We investigated the effect of a single dose of NR-BJ on muscle oxygen saturation parameters in response to a handgrip exercise in HIV-infected patients. Fifteen HIV-infected patients received NR-BJ or nitrate-depleted beetroot juice (ND-BJ) in a double-blind cross-over design. Near-infrared spectroscopy was utilized to assess muscle oxygen saturation parameters during rhythmic handgrip exercise after NR-BJ or ND-BJ supplementation. A significant faster muscle oxygen desaturation rate during exercise (-7.97±5.00 vs -5.45±3.94 %.s-1; p=0.005) and the muscle oxygen resaturation rate during exercise recovery (0.43±0.24 vs 0.28±0.24 %.s-1; p=0.030) after NR-BJ ingestion was found. However, no significant difference in exercise time until fatigue was observed. Salivary nitrite and urinary nitrate concentration were analysed after NR-BJ or ND-BJ. A significant increase in salivary nitrite and urinary nitrate in NR-BJ condition compared to ND-BJ was observed (p<0.05). Our findings suggest that NR-BJ consumption may acutely improve muscle oxygen saturation during exercise and exercise recovery in HIV-infected patients undergoing HAART, individuals who are expected to present microvascular damage. Thus, future studies investigating the chronic effect of NR-BJ are warranted to delineate a better nutritional strategy based on nitrate-rich foods.

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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is associated with lower nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and vascular dysfunction. Nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BJ) has been shown to acutely increase NO availability and vascular function in healthy and individuals at high risk for CVD . Thus, we tested the effects of BJ ingestion on flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements in healthy and HIV-infected patients. 13 HIV-infected (36±10 years old) and 18 healthy (27±8 years old) participated in the study. Individuals were submitted to vascular tests such as FMD and pulse PWV at pre (T0) and at 120 min (T120) after beetroot juice (BJ) and placebo (PLA) ingestion. The %FMD at T0 of the control group was significantly higher than the %FMD at T0 of the HIV individuals in both interventions. BJ improved the %FMD at T120 when compared to T0 in the HIV and control groups. There was no change in %FMD after PLA ingestion in the control and HIV groups. There were no differences between groups (control vs HIV), time points (T0 vs T120) and interventions (BJ vs PLA) for PWV. Our findings showed that nitrate-rich beetroot juice ingestion acutely improved vascular function in healthy and HIV-infected patients. Clinical Trials Registry number: NCT03485248. Novelty bullets: ●Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is associated with lower nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability and vascular dysfunction. ●Acute supplementation with nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BJ) has been shown to acutely increases NO bioavailability ●We showed for the first time that BJ acutely improve endothelial function in HIV-infected patients.

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