Benefits
Nitric oxide production and vasodilation
Nitratene® supplies dietary nitrate. Bacteria in the mouth convert nitrate to nitrite, and nitrite can be converted to nitric oxide in tissue where oxygen is low, such as hard-working muscle. Nitric oxide relaxes blood vessel walls, which is the proposed route to better blood flow and oxygen delivery. This is the accepted biology of dietary nitrate in general. It has not been measured with Nitratene®, and none of the studies cited on this page used the branded ingredient or measured blood flow after taking it.
Exercise capacity: helps in tests to exhaustion, less clear for timed performance
The page's own largest meta-analysis does not support a broad performance claim. McMahon 2017 pooled 76 trials from 47 studies in healthy adults and found the overall effect of dietary nitrate on endurance performance was trivial (effect size -0.10). The one clear benefit was in time-to-exhaustion tests (effect size 0.33), and the authors wrote that nitrate is less likely to be effective for time-trial performance. In plain terms: nitrate may help you keep going longer in a lab test that runs to exhaustion, but it is less likely to make you faster in an actual timed race. A second meta-analysis, Gao 2021 (73 studies, 1,061 participants), was more favourable and reported better power output, about 25 seconds more time to exhaustion and about 164 more metres of distance covered. Both used generic dietary nitrate, mostly beetroot juice, not Nitratene®, and the authors note that the best dose and which people benefit most are still unsettled.
Blood pressure: studied in people already diagnosed with high blood pressure
The blood pressure research cited here was done in people already diagnosed with high blood pressure and under medical care, not in healthy shoppers. In Kapil 2015, 68 adults with hypertension (34 not yet on medication, 34 already taking blood pressure drugs) drank 250 mL of beetroot juice daily for 4 weeks; clinic readings fell by about 7.7/2.4 mmHg and 24-hour readings by about 7.7/5.2 mmHg. Two points matter for a consumer: that was a food-sized glass of juice, not a capsule of branded extract, and no study has shown Nitratene® to be equivalent to it. High blood pressure is a medical condition to manage with your doctor, and no supplement is a treatment for it.
Mechanism of action
Enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-NO cycle
Dietary nitrate, including beet root nitrate such as Nitratene®, is absorbed in the small intestine and then concentrated into saliva by the salivary glands, reaching roughly ten times the level found in blood. This pathway comes from general research on dietary nitrate and has not been measured with this branded ingredient. Oral commensal bacteria (Veillonella, Actinomyces) reduce salivary nitrate to nitrite via bacterial nitrate reductase enzymes — a process eliminated by antibacterial mouthwash or antibiotic use. Swallowed nitrite is absorbed and transported to tissues where hypoxic conditions (exercising muscle, vascular walls) trigger non-enzymatic reduction to NO by deoxyhemoglobin, xanthine oxidoreductase, and other reductases. Peak blood nitrite levels occur 2–3 hours after ingestion.
Clinical trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of generic dietary nitrate, mostly beetroot juice, and endurance exercise performance. McMahon NF, Leveritt MD, Pavey TG. Sports Med 2017 (PMID 27600147).
76 trials pooled from 47 studies in healthy adults. No participant took Nitratene®.
The overall effect of dietary nitrate on endurance exercise performance was trivial (effect size -0.10). A moderate benefit appeared only in time-to-exhaustion tests (effect size 0.33), and the authors concluded that nitrate is less likely to be effective for time-trial performance. They also noted that the best dose and the population most likely to benefit are still unclear. A separate meta-analysis (Gao 2021, 73 studies, 1,061 participants) was more positive, reporting better power output, about 25 more seconds to exhaustion and about 164 more metres of distance. Neither analysis tested Nitratene®: there are no published trials of the branded form at all.