Beetroot has been gaining popularity as a super food and with good reason. Recent studies suggest it improves blood flow and lowers blood pressure, leading to improved athletic performance.
I happen to love beetroot, in all its forms. I regularly eat it on salad and have beetroot soup. Now I have another… make that about half a dozen reasons to eat and drink more beetroot.
MedicalNewsToday.com reports:
“Beetroot juice supplementation has been shown to improve muscle oxygenation during exercise, suggesting that increased dietary nitrate intake has the potential to enhance exercise tolerance during long-term endurance exercise.”
Source: Beetroot: Health Benefits and Nutritional Information
Cycling Performance and Beetroot
What does this mean for us cyclists?
In scientific tests carried out by Cermak, Gibala and van Loon, and reported in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition Exercise Metab., cyclists were able to improve their time trial performance significantly.
Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2012 Feb reports:
The authors tested the hypothesis that 6 d of nitrate ingestion would improve time-trial performance in trained cyclists. Using a double-blind, repeated-measures crossover design, 12 male cyclists (31±3 yr, VO2peak=58±2 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹, maximal power [Wmax]=342±10 W) ingested 140 ml/d of concentrated beetroot (~8 mmol/d nitrate) juice (BEET) or a placebo (nitrate-depleted beetroot juice; PLAC) for 6 d, separated by a 14-d washout. After supplementation on Day 6, subjects performed 60 min of submaximal cycling (2×30 min at 45% and 65% Wmax, respectively), followed by a 10-km time trial.
Time-trial performance (953±18 vs. 965±18 s, p<.005) and power output (294±12 vs. 288±12 W, p<.05) improved after BEET compared with PLAC supplementation. Submaximal VO₂ was lower after BEET (45% Wmax=1.92±0.06 vs. 2.02±0.09 L/min, 65% Wmax 2.94±0.12 vs. 3.11±0.12 L/min) than with PLAC (main effect, p<.05).
Six days of nitrate supplementation reduced VO₂ during submaximal exercise and improved time-trial performance in trained cyclists.
Another study involving beetroot juice showed similar results, finding:
- Beetroot juice increased plasma nitrate concentration from 293 ± 133 nM to 575 ± 199 nM (p < 0.05). The placebo did not show an effect.
- Beetroot juice significantly lowered systolic blood pressure (placebo = 131 ± 8 mmHg, beetroot juice = 125 ± 5 mmHg, p < 0.05).
- Beetroot juice reduced the time it took for all subjects to complete the 4 km trial. Average times were 6.43 ± 0.42 min at the familiarization trials and 6.27 ± 0.35 min with supplementation (p < 0.05). The placebo did not have an effect (6.45 ± 0.42 min, p > 0.05).
- Times were reduced for all subjects in the 16.1 km time trial with beetroot juice supplementation from 28.6 ± 2.4 min in the familiarization trial to 26.9 ± 1.8 min (p < 0.01). The placebo had no effect (27.7 ± 2.1 min, p > 0.05). This effect (mean time decrease of 2.8% in the 4-km trial and 2.7% in the 16-km trial) is much greater that the “smallest worthwhile change” (0.6%) proposed by another group of exercise scientists.
- Beetroot juice increased power output 5% in the 4 km time trial and 6% in the 16.1 km time trial.
- The power output: VO2 ratio was significantly elevated at the 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, and 4 km distances for the beetroot juice vs. placebo in the 4-km time trial. This ratio was also elevated above placebo (albeit not significantly) at distance measurement (taken every 2 km) during the 16-km time trial.
Roughly a 5-6% improvement in power just from drinking a juice, with no expensive aero helmets, skinsuits or trick wheels.
The good news doesn’t stop there.
MedicalNewsToday.com also reports other health benefits, beetroot counteracts inflammation, lowers glucose levels and oxygenates the brain helping fight dementia.
The Velo Logic store now stocks Beet IT Organic Shots . This bottled form provides a convenient way to get a performance and health boost anytime and anywhere.