In a recent YouTube video, Harvard-Oxford trained MD-PhD Dr. Nick Norwitz spotlighted a molecule that quietly runs your cardiovascular system.
Its name is nitric oxide, and it earned a Nobel Prize back in 1998.
One tip was so strange that Norwitz admitted he “thought the number was a typo.”
Another may have you rethinking part of your morning routine.
Ready to boost your levels using tools hiding in your kitchen, bathroom, and car?
Jump to:
Why Nitric Oxide Matters So Much
Nitric oxide (NO) is a signaling molecule made of nitrogen and oxygen. Simple structure, enormous power.
- Lowers blood pressure
- Improves blood flow
- Enhances exercise performance
- Calms inflammation
- Reduces unwanted clotting
Your roughly 60,000 miles of vessels are not passive plumbing. As Norwitz puts it:
They’re living tissue that can widen, tighten, and remodel themselves.
The “Tickle” That Starts Everything
Start jogging, and blood rushes faster across your vessel lining. That friction, called shear stress, is “kind of like the blood vessel getting a tickle from the inside.”
The tickle switches on an enzyme, nitric oxide synthase, which makes NO. Like a ghost signal, NO drifts into surrounding muscle cells, which relax, and vessels widen.
Platelet stickiness drops too, lowering clot risk. Inflammatory cells also struggle to invade artery walls.
Your vessels are like tree roots. And nitric oxide helps grow those roots like fertilizer.
Two Ways Your Body Makes It
- Pathway one: the enzyme living in your vessel lining
- Pathway two: your mouth, where bacteria convert dietary nitrate into nitrite, which then becomes NO
That second route explains why certain foods can lower blood pressure. It also sets up the first surprise.
Seven Strategies to Raise Nitric Oxide
1. Rethink Mouthwash
Tens of millions of people do something daily that “nukes the bugs in their mouth.” Norwitz says multiple studies link regular mouthwash use to reduced oral nitrate conversion and a 2 to 3 mm Hg rise in blood pressure in healthy people.
Sounds tiny, right? He compares it to stashing 50 extra calories daily, which adds up to roughly 52 pounds of fat per decade.
The cumulative increase in stress on my cardiovascular system isn’t worth minty fresh breath.
2. Breathe Through Your Nose
Your paranasal sinuses are a major NO factory, and the answer to why comes down to one word: defense. At high concentrations, NO acts as an antimicrobial, keeping nasal passages clean before flowing toward your lungs.
Norwitz points to evidence that nasal breathing, compared with mouth breathing, lowers blood pressure by about 4 mm Hg, especially the diastolic number. Small, continuous, cumulative.
3. Hum Your Favorite Tune
Humming sends oscillating airflow through sinus cavities, jostling stale air and exposing more surface area. By some estimates, nasal NO jumps 15-fold versus quiet exhalation.
His advice? Use car time or shower time wisely. He adds a caveat: “this doesn’t prove that humming will protect you from a heart attack. I did not say that.”
4. Exercise: The Master Upregulator
Remember that vessel tickle? Training repeats it constantly, and your body gradually builds more of the enzyme, which is one reason routine exercise lowers blood pressure.
- Average drop: around 3.5 mm Hg
- People with higher pressure: up to 8 or more
- Norwitz’s target: at least 150 minutes weekly of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic work, plus resistance training
5. Eat Beets (and Other Nitrate-Rich Foods)
Beetroot is arguably the best-studied nitrate source. A cup can hold around 500 mg of nitrate, though amounts vary.
Norwitz cites a controlled trial where 10 healthy men drank beet juice containing roughly 260, 520, or 1,040 mg of nitrate. The two higher doses produced 12 to 14% improvements in endurance tasks, with no extra benefit at 1,040 mg.
Ten participants is a small sample, so treat the figure as promising rather than definitive. Whole beets work, and juice drinkers should watch for added sugar.
Other nitrate-rich options include:
- Arugula
- Spinach and other dark leafy greens
- Radishes
- Bok choy
The Beetroot Brownie Experiment
Norwitz used AI to design a low-carb, almond-flour, beetroot brownie. His verdict after tasting:
This is one of the densest, butteriest, most delicious brownies I’ve literally ever had.
His blood pressure already runs near 90 over 55, so little room to drop. Still, he reported an incredible pump and a blood sugar fall from 85 to 75 mg/dL within 30 minutes.
That is a one-person experiment, not proof, and he frames it as extrapolation from physiology and carb counts. Cocoa adds a bonus, since about 22 g has lowered blood pressure by roughly 3 mm Hg in human randomized trials, per Norwitz.
6. Make Extra Virgin Olive Oil a Staple
Free radicals can attack and destroy NO. Olive oil polyphenols mop up those radicals first, supporting the enzyme and helping NO survive longer.
7. Load Up on Omega-3s
EPA and DHA appear to activate pathways that stimulate NO and reduce molecules like ADMA that destroy it. The full mechanism list isn’t fully mapped, though.
Norwitz points to a meta-analysis of 31 placebo-controlled human trials showing about 3 mm Hg lower blood pressure, particularly in people with hypertension. He takes at least 2 g of combined EPA and DHA daily through supplements plus low-mercury fish like sardines and salmon, mainly for brain health.
Do Nitrates Raise Cancer Risk?
The worry has real chemistry behind it. Nitrate can become nitrite, which under certain conditions contributes to nitrosamines, some of which cause cancer in animals.
Context changes everything. Concern is greater with contaminated water and processed meats, where other compounds promote nitrosamine formation, much like sparks around gasoline versus sparks around water.
It’s about the cocktail in which the nitrate exists.
Whole vegetables like beets carry antioxidants that inhibit harmful compound formation. Population data cited by Norwitz link higher whole-food nitrate intake with better metabolic health and neutral or even lower risk of some cancers, such as stomach cancer.
Your Nitric Oxide Playbook
- Skip routine mouthwash
- Breathe through your nose
- Hum whenever possible
- Move at least 150 minutes weekly
- Add nitrate-rich veggies, beets included
- Cook with extra virgin olive oil
- Get your omega-3s
None of these is revolutionary alone, and Norwitz says that is the point.
Your blood vessels don’t need a revolution. They benefit from the cumulative nudges you feed them every day.
So, which habit will you change first?
