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Out of the Lab Onto the Track

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover studies convinced the scientific establishment that nitrate-rich vegetables such as beets could noticeably improve athletic performance.

February 16, 2012 |
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Out of the Lab Onto the Track, 5.0 out of 5 based on 2 ratings

Sources Cited

Lansley KE, Winyard PG, Bailey SJ, Vanhatalo A, Wilkerson DP, Blackwell JR, Gilchrist M, Benjamin N, Jones AM. Acute dietary nitrate supplementation improves cycling time trial performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2011 Jun;43(6):1125-31.

Lansley KE, Winyard PG, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Bailey SJ, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, Gilchrist M, Benjamin N, Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of walking and running: a placebo-controlled study. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Mar;110(3):591-600. Epub 2010 Nov 11.

Bailey SJ, Fulford J, Vanhatalo A, Winyard PG, Blackwell JR, DiMenna FJ, Wilkerson DP, Benjamin N, Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation enhances muscle contractile efficiency during knee-extensor exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jul;109(1):135-48. Epub 2010 May 13.

Larsen FJ, Weitzberg E, Lundberg JO, Ekblom B. Dietary nitrate reduces maximal oxygen consumption while maintaining work performance in maximal exercise. Free Radic Biol Med. 2010 Jan 15;48(2):342-7. Epub 2009 Nov 12.

Larsen FJ, Schiffer TA, Borniquel S, Sahlin K, Ekblom B, Lundberg JO, Weitzberg E. Dietary inorganic nitrate improves mitochondrial efficiency in humans. Cell Metab. 2011 Feb 2;13(2):149-59.

Ferreira LF, Behnke BJ. A toast to health and performance! Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure and the O2 cost of exercise. J Appl Physiol. 2011 Mar;110(3):585-6. Epub 2010 Dec 23.

Acknowledgements

Image thanks to Richard Masoner.

Transcript

The scientific world could simply not believe that beets could significantly, noticeably improve athletic performance by enhancing energy production at the subcellular level. So last year the same type of study was repeated over and over and over in different labs. Forget the labs, what about out on the race track. Chugged two cups of beet juice and off they went. Randomized, double blind, crossover, placebo controlled study; nobody knew who was drinking what going into it, beet juice versus de-nitrated beet juice. And the most striking finding was a significant improvement in 4 and 16 K competitive cycling time trial performance after the ingestion of a single half liter beetroot beverage, with all nine individuals completing both distances faster after beetroot supplementation.

And once the researchers were actually able to take muscle biopsies from people before and after, and provide proof, earlier this year, that mitochondrial efficiency, human energy production could be improved; they finally won over the scientific establishment. A toast to health and performance.

The media echoed the praise… complete with even more atrocious puns.

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by MaryAnn Allison.

To help out on the site please email <a
href= “mailto:volunteer@nutritionfacts.org” >volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

For an explanation of this boost in the mitochondrial efficiency of human energy extraction, see Priming the proton pump, the second video in my series on the performance-enhancing effects of vegetables. What might be the potential downsides of doping with beets or other nitrite-containing vegetables? Stay tuned for tomorrow's video of the day. And if you can't wait until tomorrow for your next NutritionFacts.org video, there are hundreds of other videos on more than a thousand subjects.

For some context, please check out my associated blog post, Using Greens to Improve Athletic Performance.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    For an explanation of this boost in the mitochondrial efficiency of human energy extraction, see Priming the proton pump, the second video in my series on the performance-enhancing effects of vegetables. What might be the potential downsides of doping with beets or other nitrite-containing vegetables? Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video of the day. And if you can’t wait until tomorrow for your next NutritionFacts.org video, there are hundreds of other videos on more than a thousand subjects.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/beech27/ Beech27

    So, let’s say that I’d like to apply this research to myself. How much should I drink? How often? When? 2 cups, before running, perhaps?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      The participants in the study drank a glass of beat juice 2.5 hours before the activity.

  • Elias Masri

     hahaha I just dried to chug beet juice, ive had beet juice before (but never alone) and had few side effects except red poop. I drank about half a liter and first I wanted to see my tongue, I was sure it was going to be super red and it was! and about 3 seconds later uhh ohh…i guess it wasnt such a good idea. It came out of me twice as fast as it went in and had me running to the bathroom! any studies on beet juice and a clean colon? ahahah luckily nothing too bad

  • Rudy Belgardt

    I’m just wondering if pickled beets have the same effect. Does the act of pickling in some way reduce the efficacy of the good stuff?

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