Flashback Friday: Whole Beets vs. Juice for Improving Athletic Performance

Nitrates, concentrated in green leafy vegetables and beets, underwent a great makeover a few years ago from inert substances to having profound effects on the power plants within all of our cells, reducing the oxygen cost during exercise—meaning we can bust out the same amount of work with less oxygen. So, one little shot of beet juice allows free divers to hold their breath for over four minutes; they get about a half-minute longer, and for others, this improved muscle efficiency allows athletes to exercise at a higher power output or running speed for the same amount of breath. I profiled this discovery in an unprecedented 17-part video series, the longest I think I’ve ever done—it was just so fascinating. But that was back in 2012; what’s happened since? Well, this all led to many athletes—elite and amateur alike—consuming beetroot juice prior to competition. But what does the new science say?

Well, most of the studies were done on men; turns out it works on women too—even African-American women, an even more neglected research demographic. Same workload power outputs using significantly less oxygen after drinking beet juice. But forget beet juice; what about whole beets? Cheaper; healthier; can find them in any produce aisle. But there had never been any studies on actual beets, until now.

Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance. They gave physically fit men and women a cup and a half of baked beets, which is equal to about a can of beets, 75 minutes before running a 5K. They started out the same, but during the last mile of the 5K race, the beet group pulled ahead, compared to the placebo group, who were given berries instead.

Though they were running faster, their heart rate wasn’t any higher. If anything, the beet group reported less exertion. Faster time with less effort? They don’t call them block-rockin’ beets for nothing.

But if nitrates are so good, why not just take them in a pill? Nitrate supplements with names like “Hellfire”—although they can work, their long-term safety is questionable. Non-vegetable sources of nitrates may have detrimental health effects; so, if we want to improve our performance, we should ideally obtain nitrates from whole vegetables. The industry knows this, so instead markets an array of nitric oxide-stimulating supplements. However, there is little or no evidence of a performance improvement following supplementation with these so called NO boosters. The evidence is with the vegetables.

How much money can companies make selling beets though? So, how about a novel beetroot-enriched bread product? We’ve tried to get people to eat their fruits and vegetables, and where has that gotten us? But hey, lots of people eat white bread; why not have them eat red bread? And, indeed, it worked; red beet bread brought down blood pressures, and improved the ability of arteries to relax and dilate naturally. Bread, therefore, may be an effective vehicle to increase vegetable consumption without significant dietary changes, because heaven forbid people should have to change their diet to improve their health.

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 Katie Schloer.

Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.

• A M Jones. Influence of dietary nitrate on the physiological determinants of exercise performance: a critical review. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2014 Sep;39(9):1019-28.
• W T Clements, S R Lee, R J Bloomer. Nitrate ingestion: a review of the health and physical performance effects. Nutrients. 2014 Nov 18;6(11):5224-64.
• F Wang, S Dai, M Wang, H Morrison. Erectile dysfunction and fruit/vegetable consumption among diabetic Canadian men. Urology. 2013 Dec;82(6):1330-5.
• F J Larsen, T A Schiffer, S Borniquel, K Sahlin, B Ekblom, J O Lundberg, E Weitzberg. Dietary inorganic nitrate improves mitochondrial efficiency in humans. Cell Metab. 2011 Feb 2;13(2):149-59.
• M Murphy, K Eliot, R M Heuertz, E Weiss. Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012 Apr;112(4):548-52.
• D A Hobbs, M G Goulding, A Nguyen, T Malaver, C F Walker, T W George, L Methven, J A Lovegrove. Acute ingestion of beetroot bread increases endothelium-independent vasodilation and lowers diastolic blood pressure in healthy men: a randomized controlled trial. J Nutr. 2013 Sep;143(9):1399-405.
• D A Hobbs, N Kaffa, T W George, L Methven, J A Lovegrove. Blood pressure-lowering effects of beetroot juice and novel beetroot-enriched bread products in normotensive male subjects. Br J Nutr. 2012 Dec 14;108(11):2066-74.
• V Bond Jr, B H Curry, R G Adams, R M Millis, G E Haddad. Cardiorespiratory function associated with dietary nitrate supplementation. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2014 Feb; 39(2): 168–172.
• H K Engan, A M Jones, F Ehrenberg, E Schagatay. Acute dietary nitrate supplementation improves dry static apnea performance. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2012 Jul 1;182(2-3):53-9.

Image thanks to New Africa via Adobe Stock.