The Power of Beets
Have you ever heard of Nitric Oxide before?! If you have ever looked at a tub of pre-workout (insert: eye roll. I’ll save that for another post), you may have notice “nitric oxide,” or “oxide boost blend” in the Supplement Facts label. It is a common ingredient and label on many pre-workout supplements promising “that pump” for a solid workout. What you might not know is that it can be formed from certain foods that contain dietary nitrates. Beets are one an example of a food very high in these food-based nitrates.
Here is the lowdown on how it works in our bodies:
You eat a beet, which contains dietary nitrates.
There is bacteria that lives on your tongue/in your mouth that converts it to nitrite
Further digestion and chemical processes occur in your stomach, which turn the nitrite into nitric oxide.
The nitric oxide is absorbed into your bloodstream and circulates in blood.
Nitric oxide is the compound that will then expand blood vessels (vasodilation).
Nitric oxide is a VASODILATOR, meaning it expands your blood vessels. Why is this so important for exercise? For working muscles, or soon to be working muscles, it allows for an increase in blood flow of nutrients, energy, and oxygen. Its like trying to water a garden on “mist” vs “stream” mode of the spray nozzle. A lot more water (or blood) is delivered to the garden (muscles) to help deliver what it needs.
Studies show that when taken 1-3 hours before exercise, there is an increased performance measured as time to exhaustion (aka: how long you can work at a given intensity before becoming fatigued or exhausted), sprint time (sprinting faster), power (producing more power), or more repetitions (doing more reps in a given time, or more reps at the same weight).
Types of Training it May Benefit:
Many types of training may reap the benefits of nitric oxide such as as high intensity training (classified as 6 seconds to 60 sec of maximal work), high intensity intervals (maximal efforts repeated between rest periods), intense endurance efforts, and explosive efforts (< 6 sec of work, such as a jump, 1-RM lift, Olympic lift, etc.).
How Much & When?:
For beetroot supplementation, time and dose matter, like most sports supplements with a scientifically proven benefit. It will peak 1-3 hours after ingestion, so it is important to ingest the beet supplement 1-3 hours before training. Most studies use 5-12 mmol of beetroot, which is equivalent to a 1/2 - 1 liter of beetroot juice (2-4 cups). Thus, this might be hard to get in from whole beets alone as you will be juicing a whole lot of beets (as well as cooking and skinning them). This is where certain sports supplements and products can come into play. Most contain the desired dose in powdered, concentrated form that can be mixed with water for convenience.
Like with most sports supplements, it is imperative to ensure that they are 3rd party tested for safety and efficacy. There are a handful of beetroot powder products that have 3rd party testing by either NSF Certified for Sport, or Informed Sport. (Products listed are 3rd party certified as of May 6, 2020. Check each respective 3rd party site for updated lists of approved/tested products).
HumanN - BeetElite
Beet It
Resync
Active Edge - Beet Active
Juice Performer (not a supplement, but a beverage)
NOW Sports - Beet Root Powder
Source:
Domínguez, R., Maté-Muñoz, J.L., Cuenca, E. et al. Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on intermittent high-intensity exercise efforts. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 15, 2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0204-9
