The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if taking a beetroot juice supplement will work in people living with Alzheimer's disease. The main questions it aims to answer are:
* Can people living with Alzheimer's disease realistically drink beetroot juice regularly (for example, is it easy to take, free from side effects and acceptable)? * Does drinking beetroot juice twice a day improve health in people living with Alzheimer's disease?
Researchers will look at how you managed with the beetroot juice, as well as if there were any improvements in your health measures.
Participants will:
* Complete testing before and after the intervention for no more than 3 hours each time * Complete a 1-day food diary before testing * Take a beetroot juice supplementation twice daily for 1-week * Keep a note of any problems with the beetroot juice
Aged 65-85 years
Mild or Moderate Alzheimer's disease
Participants must be able to speak, read, and understand English to participate in this study.
To support adherence, participants are asked to have a carer, partner, friend, or family member available to assist with reminders to take the shots twice daily.
Advanced or severe Alzheimer's Disease
Diagnosis of an additional neurological condition
Have used antibiotics in the last month
Use of mouthwash in the last month
Single group
Beetroot juice
Dietary supplementParticipants will take a concentrated beetroot juice shot (70ml) twice daily for 1-week. Each shot contains 400mg of dietary nitrate (800mg per day).
Feasibility of a beetroot juice intervention in people living with Alzheimer's disease
Participants will be supported by a carer, friend or family member to complete a semi-structured interview to assess how feasible the trial was. Questions will be based around adherence (e.g. was the beetroot juice taken consistently and at the right times), acceptability/safety (e.g. was the beetroot juice tolerable and would they consider doing it daily if the benefits were proven and were there any adverse effects) and data collection feasibility (e.g. how easy was it to collect and post saliva samples themselves and how much of a burden was the pre and post-testing). Simple Likert scales will also be used to assess acceptability of the beetroot juice.
Changes to oral microbiome pre to post intervention
An oral swab will collect bacteria from the tongue to analyse changes in the relative abundance of bacteria (%). Particular interest will be paid to pathogenic and nitrate reducing bacteria. Higher abundances of pathogenic bacteria and lower abundances of nitrate reducing bacteria indicate poorer oral health.
Changes to cognitive function pre and post intervention
Cognitive function will be assessed pre and post-intervention through the use of Montreal Cognitive Assessment. A different version of the questionnaire will be completed pre and post. Higher scores indicate better cognitive performance.
Changes to nitric oxide metabolism
Blood will be collected and analysed for arginine levels (µM). Higher nitric oxide levels can mean better health however, the inclusion of iNOS measurements is to determine the source of the nitric oxide i.e. whether it's inflammatory based, or health based.
Changes to nitric Oxide metabolism
Saliva and blood will be collected and analysed for nitric oxide levels (µM). Higher nitric oxide levels can mean better health however, the inclusion of iNOS measurements is to determine the source of the nitric oxide i.e. whether it's inflammatory based, or health based.
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University of the West of Scotland
Lead sponsor
NHS Lanarkshire
Collaborator
This trial is not recruiting at the moment. You can still explore other options:
