{"id":1326,"date":"2016-05-04T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/velologic.com\/publishing\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2016-05-04T23:50:51","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T03:50:51","slug":"benefits-of-beetroot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/velologic.com\/publishing\/2016\/05\/benefits-of-beetroot\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits of Beetroot"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.
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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.<\/p>\n

MedicalNewsToday.com reports:<\/p>\n

“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.”<\/p>\n

Source: Beetroot: Health Benefits and Nutritional Information<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Cycling Performance and Beetroot<\/h2>\n

What does this mean for us cyclists?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab.<\/a><\/span> 2012 Feb reports:<\/p>\n

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\u00b13 yr, VO2peak=58\u00b12 ml\u00b7kg\u207b\u00b9\u00b7min\u207b\u00b9, maximal power [Wmax]=342\u00b110 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\u00d730 min at 45% and 65% Wmax, respectively), followed by a 10-km time trial.<\/p>\n

Time-trial performance (953\u00b118 vs. 965\u00b118 s, p<.005) and power output (294\u00b112 vs. 288\u00b112 W, p<.05) improved after BEET compared with PLAC supplementation. Submaximal VO\u2082 was lower after BEET (45% Wmax=1.92\u00b10.06 vs. 2.02\u00b10.09 L\/min, 65% Wmax 2.94\u00b10.12 vs. 3.11\u00b10.12 L\/min) than with PLAC (main effect, p<.05).<\/p>\n

Six days of nitrate supplementation reduced VO\u2082 during submaximal exercise and improved time-trial performance in trained cyclists.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another study involving beetroot juice<\/a> showed similar results, finding:<\/p>\n

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