Two studies, one from the Univ. of Exeter and the other from Washington Univ. In St. Louis, have found the high nitrate content in concentrated beet juice has beneficial effects on both athletes and heart failure patients, particularly when it comes to muscle power.
“It’s a small study, but we see robust changes in muscle power about two hours after patients drink the beet juice,” said Linda R. Peterson, senior author of Washington Univ.’s study and an associate professor of medicine. “A lot of the activities of daily living are power-based—getting out of a chair, lifting groceries, climbing stairs.”
“We want to help make people more powerful because power is such an important predictor of how well people do, whether they have heart failure, cancer or other conditions. In general, physically more powerful people live longer,” she added.
Published in Circulation: Heart Failure, the study showed patients, two hours after ingesting beet juice, demonstrated a 13% increase in power muscles that extend the knee. While changes were noted in quick, power-based actions, longer tests showed no substantial improvement in muscle performance.
“I have compared the beet juice effect to Popeye eating his spinach,” said Andrew R. Coggan, an assistant professor of radiology at Washington Univ. “The magnitude of this improvement is comparable to that seen in heart failure patients who have done two to three months of resistance training.”
According to the university, the body turns nitrates in beet juice into nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels and offers beneficial effects on metabolism.
Both studies used Beet It Sport as the beet juice of choice.
In Univ. of Exeter’s study, 16 male sport team members, from the rugby and football fields and the hockey rink, drank 140 mL of juice for seven days. On the seventh day, sprint tests were performed over two 40-min periods, with tests running in two-minute blocks. Cognitive tasks were also assigned to gauge how accurately and fast the athletes made decisions.
After ingesting the nitrate-rich beet juice, athletes saw a 3.5% performance boost, and a 3% increase in decision-making.
“The improvement we found may seem small, but it’s likely to provide a meaningful advantage to the athlete on the sports field,” said Chris Thompson, who led the study.
According to the Univ. of Exeter, the 400 mg per shot nitrate concentration produces nitric oxide in the blood system after interacting with enzymes in saliva.
Over 150 universities are researching the benefits of natural dietary supplementation, according to the Univ. of Exeter.
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