BACKGROUND:

Red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) is a multifunctional functional food that reportedly exhibits potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, vasodilation, and cellular regulatory properties. This vegetable has gained a fair amount of scientific attention as a possible cost-effective supplement to enhance performance and expedite recovery after physical exercise. To date, no study has investigated the effects of incremental beetroot juice ingestion on the metabolic recovery of athletes after an endurance race. Considering this, as well as the beneficial glucose and insulin regulatory roles of beetroot, this study investigated the effects of beetroot juice supplementation on the metabolic recovery trend of athletes within 48 h after completing a marathon.

METHODS:

By employing an untargeted two-dimensional gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry approach, serum samples (collected pre-, post-, 24 h post-, and 48 h post-marathon) of 31 marathon athletes that ingested a series (n = 7; 250 ml) of either beetroot juice (n = 15 athletes) or isocaloric placebo (n = 16 athletes) supplements within 48 h post-marathon, were analysed and statistically compared.

RESULTS:

The metabolic profiles of the beetroot-ingesting cohort recovered to a pre-marathon-related state within 48 h post-marathon, mimicking the metabolic recovery trend observed in the placebo cohort. Since random inter-individual variation was observed immediately post-marathon, only metabolites with large practical significance (p-value ≤0.05 and d-value ≥0.5) within 24 h and 48 h post-marathon were considered representative of the effects of beetroot juice on metabolic recovery. These (n = 4) mainly included carbohydrates (arabitol and xylose) and odd-chain fatty acids (nonanoate and undecanoate). The majority of these were attributed to beetroot content and possible microbial fermentation thereof.

CONCLUSION:

Apart from the global metabolic recovery trends of the two opposing cohorts, it appears that beetroot ingestion did not expedite metabolic recovery in athletes within 48 h post-marathon.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of beetroot juice supplements on lower-limb strength and muscular endurance in physically active women, due to the presence of NO3- in beetroot juice.

The study will aim to describe and evaluate the effect of beetroot juice supplementation upon whole body running exercise at altitude. It is hypothesised that beetroot supplementation will decrease time to complete a 10 km time trial.

Nitrate supplementation (NO3 -) has been shown to improve athletic performance for short-duration, vigorous activity, as well as long-duration, aerobic activity. The purpose was to explore the effects of beetroot supplementation (BR) on high-intensity functional training (HIFT) performance. Twenty-four HIFT participants (25 ± 6.5 years, 175.17 ± 8.1 cm, 84.94 ± 12.09 kg), who attended HIFT classes at least 3 days per week for the past 3 months, performed a benchmark performance test (5 rounds of a 400-m run followed by 15 overhead squats with a 95-lb (for males)/65-lb (for females) barbell). In a randomized order, 72 hrs apart, participants were tested under a control session and once after consuming 70 mL beetroot nitrate supplement, Beet It®, 2 hours prior to beginning the assigned benchmark test. For both benchmark tests, time to completion, pre- and post-exercise blood lactate levels, RPE, and pre-, during, and post-exercising heart rates were measured. There was no significant difference (p < 0.05) between the control (930 ± 192.6 sec) and supplement (952.8 ± 205.8 sec) on time to complete the performance test. Post-exercise blood lactate (11.14 ± 2.84 mm/dL) was not significantly different (p < 0.05) than the control (12.00 ± 2.53 mm/dL). Additionally, mean RPE for BR supplement (14.78 ± 2.50) was not significantly different (p < 0.05) than the control (14.92 ± 2.12). The short duration and high intensity of the workout, which included both anaerobic and aerobic components, may have mitigated the cardiovascular effect of beetroot nitrates unlike previous research that found significant positive effects between beetroot nitrates and exercise performance.

The primary aim of the current study is to determine the effect of beetroot juice consumption on plasma trimethylamine N-oxide concentration.

A secondary aims: exploring the effect of circulating trimethylamine N-oxide modification on plasma total antioxidant status, and measurement of changes in the skin nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide reduced form (NADH) content during transient ischemia and reperfusion.

The beneficial effects of beetroot juice supplementation (BJS) have been tested during cycling, walking, and running. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether BJS can also improve performance in swimmers. Fourteen moderately trained male master swimmers were recruited and underwent two incremental swimming tests randomly assigned in a pool during which workload, oxygen uptake (VO₂), carbon dioxide production (VCO₂), pulmonary ventilation (VE), and aerobic energy cost (AEC) of swimming were measured. One was a control swimming test (CSW) and the other a swimming test after six days of BJS (0.5 l/day organic beetroot juice containing about 5.5 mmol of NO₃⁻). Results show that workload at anaerobic threshold was significantly increased by BJS as compared to the CSW test (6.3 ± 1 and 6.7 ± 1.1 kg during the CSW and the BJS test respectively). Moreover, AEC was significantly reduced during the BJS test (1.9 ± 0.5 during the SW test vs. 1.7 ± 0.3 kcal·kg⁻¹1·h⁻¹ during the BJS test). The other variables lacked a statistically significant effect with BJS. The present investigation provides evidence that BJS positively affects performance of swimmers as it reduces the AEC and increases the workload at anaerobic threshold.

Background: Beetroot juice is a sport supplement with a high level of evidence on the physical performance enhancement. However, in swimming, there is no clear data about the effects of beetroot juice on performance. Objective: To investigate whether an acute intake of beetroot juice (BJ) improves the performance of competitive swimmers in a repeated maximum swimming effort. Method: Thirteen national-level swimmers (six females and seven males), participated in this randomized, double-blind crossover study. In two different trials, swimmers ingested a 70-mL placebo shot (.04 mmol NO3−; PLA) or a 70-mL Beet-It shot (6.4 mmol of NO3−beet juice [BJ]) 3 h before undergoing a 6 × 100-m front-crawl maximal effort test with 7 min rest between each 100 m. Results: Overall, 100-m times showed no difference between the BJ and PLA groups (p =.364), although a possibly shorter time was observed for BJ in the last repetition (p =.104; mean difference [MD] = −.99 s, mean-based inference [MBI] = 49/51/0). Participants in the BJ condition showed a possibly lower rate of perceived exertion in the first (p =.242, MD = −.85, MBI = 70/28/2) and second repetitions (p =.165, MD = 1.15, MBI = 83/16/1), whereas Total Quality Recovery scale scores were likely higher in the first (p =.110, MD = 1.15, MBI = 83/16/1) and third (p =.082, MD = −.77, MBI = 70/29/1) repetitions compared with those in the PLA group. Blood lactate concentration [La+] levels showed no differences between groups in any of the repetitions (p >.05, unclear), and we observed an increase in 100-m times for both BJ and PLA (BJ: p =.014, MD = −1.51 s;

PLA:

p =.029, MD = −1.57 s) after the fifth repetition. Conclusion: No clear differences in performance were observed in a 6 × 100-m repeated sprint test by competitive swimmers when supplementing (or not) with BJ. However, there was a trend toward a better recovery between efforts and a better tolerance of fatigue when swimmers ingested BJ. Copyright © 2023 Moreno, Morencos, Vicente-Campos, Muñoz, González-García and Veiga.

Beetroot juice (BRJ) is high in inorganic nitrate (NO3) which has been shown to enhance vascular function, cognition, and physical performance. Acute BRJ supplementation has been reported to enhance explosive resistance exercise performance and simple reaction time in diseased populations. However, it remains unknown if acute BRJ supplementation can enhance agility and reactive drills in healthy individuals, which are relevant to many sports. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of acute BRJ supplementation on simple reaction time and reactive agility performance. In a counterbalanced double-blinded manner, physically active males completed two trials each with a differing single-dose treatment: (1) Placebo (PL), (2) BRJ. Each treatment was consumed 2-hrs before experimental testing. Plasma Nitrate (NO3) and Nitrite (NO2) were measured via capillary blood sampling and colorimetric assay. Reaction time was assessed using a simple reaction time light test. Reactive agility was measured via a semi-circle drill and a get-up-and-go drill. All tests used FITLIGHT LED sensors to record response time. Each visit was separated by a 72-h washout period. Acute BRJ ingestion resulted in significantly greater plasma NO3 (p < 0.001) and NO2 (p = 0.008) compared to PL. BRJ significantly improved response time during the semi-circle drill (p = 0.011) and get-up and go drill (p = 0.027) compared to PL. No differences between treatments were observed for simple reaction time (p = 0.279). Collectively, these findings suggest that acute BRJ ingestion may improve reactive agility performance likely mediated by systemic increases in NO3/NO2. Future research is needed to investigate how these findings translate to game-play and sports competition. © 2022 by the authors.

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This investigation assessed the effect of dietary nitrate (NO3-) supplementation, in the form of beetroot juice (BR), on repeat-sprint performance in normoxia and normobaric hypoxia. 12 male team-sport athletes (age 22.3 ± 2.6 y, VO2peak 53.1 ± 8.7 mL.kg-1.min-1) completed three exercise trials involving a 10 min submaximal warm-up and 4 sets of cycling repeat-sprint efforts (RSE; 9 × 4 s) at sea level (CON), or at 3000 m simulated altitude following acute supplementation (140 mL) with BR (HYPBR; 13 mmol NO3-) or NO3-depleted BR placebo (HYPPLA). Peak (PPO) and mean (MPO) power output, plus work decrement were recorded during the RSE task, while oxygen consumption (VO2) was measured during the warm-up. There were no significant differences observed between HYPBR and HYPPLA for PPO or MPO; however, work decrement was reduced in the first RSE set in HYPBR compared with HYPPLA. There was a moderate effect for VO2 to be lower following BR at the end of the 10 min warm-up (ES = 0.50 ± 0.51). Dietary NO3- may not improve repeat-sprint performance in hypoxia but may reduce VO2 during submaximal exercise. Therefore, BR supplementation may be more effective for performance improvement during predominantly aerobic exercise.