Daily beetroot juice showed early signs of safely supporting pregnant women with chronic kidney disease.
For a pregnant woman with chronic kidney disease (CKD), protecting her own kidneys can become harder just as her body is supporting a developing baby. Many kidney treatments are considered unsafe during pregnancy, often requiring medication to be paused for at least nine months. Researchers at King’s College London are now investigating whether a daily serving of beetroot juice could provide a simple and accessible form of support.
Pregnancy increases the workload placed on the kidneys. Among women with moderate to severe CKD, approximately half experience worsening kidney function while pregnant. Yet outcomes for this group have improved little over the past three decades, leaving clinicians with few safe ways to reduce the risk.
The study, published in Kidney International Reports, examined dietary nitrate from beetroot juice as a possible option for supporting kidney health during pregnancy.
Beetroot contains high levels of nitrate, which the body converts into nitric oxide. This molecule relaxes blood vessels and improves circulation, raising the possibility that it could ease some of the additional pressure placed on the kidneys during pregnancy.
Researchers enrolled 108 pregnant women with stage 2–5 chronic kidney disease at eight hospitals across the UK. Before 25 weeks of pregnancy, participants were randomly assigned to receive either standard care alone or standard care with a daily nitrate-containing beetroot juice supplement.
Early results suggest fewer complications
The trial was primarily intended to determine whether a larger clinical study could be conducted successfully. Although it was not designed to provide definitive evidence of effectiveness, the results pointed to possible benefits for mothers and newborns.
Kate Bramham, Consultant Nephrologist at King’s College Hospital, Professor at King’s College London and senior author of the paper, said: “For women living with chronic kidney disease, pregnancy has always meant navigating a difficult trade-off between preserving their own health and keeping their baby safe, often with few tools to do both. These results are an encouraging first step toward a low-cost, low-risk intervention that could genuinely make a difference for this group of women, who have been underserved by research for far too long.”
Participants who received beetroot juice experienced about 70% fewer serious adverse events overall than those given standard care. Among the serious events recorded in the study, approximately half involved newborn babies.
The researchers also observed encouraging patterns among women with more advanced kidney disease. These included better kidney function after pregnancy, fewer newborn admissions to neonatal care, and less need for blood pressure medication during pregnancy.
No safety concerns emerged
The beetroot juice supplement was not associated with any identified safety problems during pregnancy. In particular, researchers found no increase in hyperkalemia, a potentially dangerous buildup of potassium in the blood.
Some online guidance has warned pregnant women with CKD against consuming beetroot juice because of concerns that it might raise potassium levels. The study did not find a higher rate of hyperkalemia among participants who received the supplement.
Dr. Priscilla Smith, nephrologist, King’s College London PhD student and first author of the study, said: “Pregnancy can put additional stress on the kidneys, and for women with chronic kidney disease there are currently limited options to protect kidney function during this time. Our findings suggest beetroot juice could offer a simple and accessible approach that is safe and worth exploring further.”
Dr. Andrew Webb, Clinical Senior Lecturer at King’s College London and co-author of the study, said: “By increasing nitric oxide production, dietary nitrate from beetroot juice may help improve blood vessel function and support kidney health. These early findings provide an important foundation for future research into protecting women with chronic kidney disease during pregnancy and their babies.”
Larger trials must confirm the benefit
The researchers emphasize that the findings remain preliminary. Larger clinical trials will be needed to establish whether beetroot juice significantly limits the decline in kidney function and improves outcomes for mothers and babies over the longer term.
Should those benefits be confirmed, beetroot juice could provide an inexpensive and widely available option during pregnancy, when women with chronic kidney disease currently have few treatments considered safe.
Reference: “Randomized Trial of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation in CKD Pregnancy (ORCHARD-BEET)” by Priscilla Smith, Danielle Ashworth, Rachel Hung, Yanzhong Wang, Andrew J. Webb, Kathryn Dalrymple, Katherine Clark, Lucy C. Chappell, Kate Wiles and Kate Bramham, 17 July 2026, Kidney International Reports.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2026.106704
This research was supported by funding from Kidney Research UK.
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