Many products and supplements
are available on the market for athletes to increase their performance and
optimize their post-training recovery.
Of these, beet juice is more
and more popular among endurance athletes, but is it really effective?
Beet, a Nitrate Concentrate
Beet is a vegetable rich in
nitrates, a chemical element naturally found in certain foods such as celery,
spinach and carrots.
After the ingestion of
nitrates in the form of beet juice or powder, they are converted in the body
into nitrites and then nitric oxide.
It is this latter molecule
that is responsible for the effects of beetroot on physical performance.
Nitric oxide helps lower blood
pressure through its vasodilator effect that dilates blood vessels, blood flow
more easily and muscles work better during exercise.
In addition, muscles need less
oxygen to perform the same effort in the presence of nitric oxide, which makes
them more efficient and reduces oxygen consumption during exercise.
Each breath is thus more
effective, the body is tired less quickly and can tolerate intense efforts for
a longer period.
On the other hand, the
consumption of nitrates facilitates the entry and the use of glucose by the
muscles whose functioning is optimized.
Some studies show that the
ingestion of a nitrate concentrate in the form of beet juice by athletes before
an intense physical exercise may eventually increase the time needed to reach
burnout from 16% to 25%, which represents a reduction in running time up to
2%.
How Much Beet Juice Should I Drink?
The amounts of beet juice
administered in the studies vary in volume and time;
The participants of some studies took for example 500 ml of juice during 6 days
before carrying out the physical test, whereas the consumption was more
punctual in other studies, with a volume of 140 ml consumed only once.
There is no consensus at the
moment on the volume of beet juice to be consumed.
However, it is recommended to have it 2h 30min before the physical activity
because it is at that time that the concentration of nitrites in the blood is
at its maximum peak and that the effect on the muscles is the most optimal.
Potential Negative Effects of Nitrites on the
Health
However, beet juice is not
without consequences for health if it is regularly taken in large quantities.
Many scientists warn against
nitrites/nitrates whose excessive consumption would increase the risk of
cancer.
This is why it is recommended
to reduce the consumption of cold meats and cold cuts that are enriched in
nitrites during their manufacturing process and that act as preservatives.
Caution is therefore required
with this “sports supplement”, especially since the quantities ingested are too
high in the studies where the results observed an improvement in performance.
In
addition, this improvement is negligible in most cases (about 2%) and the
results are relatively low.
To Beet or Not To Beet, That Is the Question
Although some studies are
encouraging and show an impact on the athletic performance of high-level
athletes, there is no current recommendation in favour of beet juice,
especially since the risks of deleterious effects on health are not negligible
when large quantities are ingested.
As with any food, moderation
is key and the best solution is to consume beet juice in reasonable quantities,
and to integrate it as part of a balanced diet!
References
[1] Wylie LJ, Mohr M, Jones
AM, et al. (2013). Dietary nitrate supplementation
improves team sport-specific intense intermittent exercise performance.
European Journal of Applied Physiology; 113(7): 1673-84.
[2] Cermak NM, Gibala MJ,
& Van Loon LJ. (2012). Nitrate supplementation’s improvement of 10-km
time-trial performance in trained cyclists. International Journal of Sport
Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism; 22(1): 64-71.
[3] Rokkedal-Lausch T, Franch J, Larsen RG, et al. (2019). Chronic high-dose beetroot juice supplementation improves time trial performance of well-trained cyclists in normoxia and hypoxia. Nitric Oxide; 85: 44-52.
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