The WHO reported in 2002 that the harmful effects of chronic hypertension stand for the ca 11% of all following diseases. Identifying dietary components that might protect against cardiovascular diseases will therefore be important for public health worldwide. Nitrate has been highlighted to be such a component [5] and [14]: administration of sodium nitrate (0.1 mmol/kg/d) to healthy volunteers over 3 days reduced diastolic BP by 3.7 mm Hg [13] and Webb an co-workers showed similar effects with a vegetable juice rich in nitrate [5]. In the present study, ordinary Japanese diet increased intravascular stores of nitrite probably due to bioconversion. As a result, the BP decreased, because the nitrite was further converted to a potent vasodilator, NO [32]. Blood pressure decrease in normotensive Japanese volunteers was similar to that seen in the Webb and Larsen studies [5], [13] and [23] and suggests that NO provided in the form of dietary nitrate, found in the Japanese traditional diet, would likely have a cardioprotective effect.