Not everyone likes to eat fruits and vegetables. Yet, we all know that vegetables are very important for maintaining a balanced diet. Do you consume beetroots? Can beet juice lower blood pressure and improve athletic performance? What is in beetroot juice that makes wonders for athletes?
Can Beet Juice Lower Blood Pressure and Improve Athletic Performance?
Yes! Beet juice can lower blood pressure, not to mention improving your athletic performance! Beetroot is very well-known for its highest amount nitrate content. However, its strong flavour is not always to everyone’s liking. So if you’re new to beetroot juice, you can try blending it with fruits or vegetables like carrots or apples to create a more enjoyable taste.
What is in Beetroot?
Beetroot is a dark red vegetable which harvest around mid-autumn. It can be eaten raw, grated into salads, or can be cooked through boiling, baking, or pressing them into juice or preserve them into pickles. It contains many important nutrients as well as being a rich source of antioxidants such as vitamin C, potassium, folate, carotenoids, phenolic acids, nitrate and flavonoids.
Beetroot is considered as one of the vegetables with highest amount of nitrate. Since beetroot have a strong flavour, a tip of all is that if you are a beginner who wants to try beetroot juice, you can try to mix with other vegetables or fruits to improve the taste with mixing carrots or apple are good combination. Beets also contain quite a high sugar content which can turn its juice into brine, resulting in fermentation.
Simplest Way to Make Beet Juice – Step by Step Guide
A quick and simple way is
- Collect 2 beets, some salt and filtered water.
- Slice 2 beets into a big jar.
- Then mix 3 cups of water before putting a tablespoon of salt. It is also possible to include pickle brine if that is what you prefer.
- Cover the jar with some headspace and place it in a cool dark place. You will notice the fermented as the bubble grows and the lid tighten.
- Refrigerate for a long lasting drink. You can also continue leaving it for another few weeks.
- Extra flavour can be done by adding any preferred herbs, spices, ginger or even lemon according to your personal taste.
Is Beet Juice Backed by Science?
Many researches have focused on beetroot juice as it is now very common to the ones who exercise. When talking about sport performances, research has shown that beetroot juice can impact athletic performances and heart health due to its high nitrate content. Hence, beetroot juice is now popular amongst athletes, in relation to their cardiorespiratory endurance.
Cardiorespiratory endurance is the ability to supply adequate oxygen throughout the body to produce energy which is crucial when doing intense exercise for a long time. It can be effected by numerous factors that can also eventually impact the flexibility and energy available to use during exercise. Whether you are an active person or not, improving your heart health and strength is still very much beneficial to you.
The nitric oxide (NO) in beetroot is known to improve circulation, gas exchange, and strengthen muscle contraction. This happens through the conversion of nitrate (NO3). Once nitrate is consumed, about 25% of this will be reduced to nitrite (NO2) and then to nitric oxide. Eventually, nitric oxide will be absorbed by the stomach. Hypoxic condition is one of several mechanisms that produces nitric oxide in any part of the muscles that require more oxygen.
Other mechanisms were found to enhance glucose uptake in muscles, mitochondrial respiration, as well as muscle contraction and relaxation processes. Nitrate salt has been found to impact positively on muscle function, especially aerobic metabolism. Aerobic metabolism is the process of using oxygen to create energy for further usage during exercise and other functions in the body. This causes a significant improvement on performances which can be a desirable outcome to certain people.
Why Beet Juice is Good for Athletes?
A combination of nutritional supplements and beetroot juice(nitrate) can be beneficial to the athletes’ performance in terms of cardiorespiratory endurance. The sports drink market has shown a significant growth of over 6.9% in 2016, with North America as the biggest market for sport nutrition products. According to Nutraceutical world, there is an impressive growth of income. What is more, it is expected to grow rapidly by year 2022, from $28.37 billion to $45.27 billion.
According to British journal of sports medicine, a study has shown that consuming beet root juices improved 5km running performance. Another study focusing on aerobic response within swimmers. It showed an increase of workload with a decrease of aerobic energy cost. This was observed and recorded after 14 male swimmers supplementing 500ml of beetroot juice, containing 5.5mmol of NO3- , everyday for six days. This means that beetroot juice has allowed them to swim for a longer period of time. This is due to low energy cost after consuming beetroot juice.
Not only beets can provide antioxidants, it also provides advantages to muscle strength and recovery. Our heart is not just an organ but also a muscle that works non-stop. When patients with heart failure suffers from muscle power deficit, one third of this has been improved after drinking beetroot juice. It was found that NO has been raised alongside with better muscle function. Although beetroots could give out potential health benefits, more research is needed to observe whether these advantages will provide long term or temporary effect to the body.
How Fast Beet Juice is Reducing Blood Pressure?
Nitrates play an important role is lowering blood pressure too. Since it can cause relaxation of smooth muscles around arteries and veins, blood vessels dilation occurs resulting in a decrease of blood pressure. With a daily intake of 250ml beetroot juice, patients who suffered from high blood pressure were found to have their blood pressure recorded back to the normal range. Their blood flow improved through 20% widening and 10% elasticity of blood vessels. In addition to that, these improvements can potentially minimise the risk of cardiovascular disease with no harmful side effects.
Beetroot juice production is obviously on the rise. From harvesting to cleaning to processing into juices, the innovation of this is in high demand. However, making this beetroot extract for the market is not easy. The products formulated from beet roots are all thoroughly tested in order to produce suitable dietary nitrate source to trigger NO production and benefit the consumer’s health. A minimum of 6.3mmol intake is needed to impact the NO levels and lower the blood pressure.
Just a regular amount of beetroot juice intake will not be enough to influence the heart health of the individual due to minimal nitrate concentration. In this case, home cooked beets or juice must be prepared huge amounts to reach the appropriate concentration and achieve effective results. Excess of fresh beet root juice can effect digestion, trigger gastric discomfort and nausea. This creates massive inconvenience to consumers as they will be serving large portions of beets.
Who Should not Drink Beetroot Juice?
It is also important to mention that anyone who are suffering from heart disease or any related conditions must discus with a healthcare professional before including a high-nitrate diet into their daily food consumption. We should not forget that certain factors like medication and other substances that interact and/or effect with this matter. We definitely need further research on whether the benefits really outweigh the risks, especially when figuring out the best amount of nitrate consumption in regards to improving blood pressure and athletic performance.
Beside, even if beetroot juice can be a quick way to get nitrate into our body, this may not always be available or suit the taste of everyone. Trying to attain a certain amount of nitrate into our body can also be done by consuming a variety of leafy green vegetables such as spinach and lettuce, as well as fruits and meat products.
What are The Benefits of Beet Juice?
Not only beetroot juice helps athletes improve their performance but also their health. It has been evidenced that beetroot juice can also helps athletes and as well as for all, it can help reduce the hypertension by lowering the blood pressure. For those who have high blood pressure or even for athletes who are always under pressure and tension, beetroot juice can be a step for them to try aid their health. As I said, beetroot contain contains high amount of nitrate, the nitric acid acts as a vasodilator which helps to widen the blood vessels which then improve the blood circulation all around your body. It also contains powerful antioxidant which can help reduce the risk of cancer.
Keep in Mind!!!
Keep in mind that you will need to consult with a healthcare professional so they can monitor your condition and/or medication when consuming huge amount of nitrate. You will definitely want the benefits to outweigh any side effects that can possibly happen.
Wrapping Up!
So, did you get your answer of your question. Can beet juice lower blood pressure and improve athletic performance? Of course! Beet juice can definitely reduce the blood pressure and benefit athletes, especially for improving the performances relative to increasing blood flow and muscle recovery, as well as improving the lungs function. This is due to better respiratory endurance. So next time if you are wondering how to run for a longer period without having to take breaks to catch a breath, why don’t you try drinking beetroot juice as a habit?