This juice has positive cardiovascular effects during exercise.
Beetroot juice can increase exercise endurance, a new study finds.
Men who drank beet juice over 15 days had lower blood pressure and less fatigue during exercise, the research found.
Beetroot and spinach are one of the best dietary sources of nitrate.
Nitrate is beneficial for exercise performance.
This is because nitrate can dilate blood vessels and improve blood circulation, help cells use oxygen efficiently and improve heart function.
The new study suggests that beetroot juice can be used as a dietary nutraceutical supplement to increase endurance.
The juice can lessen the work the heart does during exercise by increasing oxygen delivery to the muscles.
Professor David Proctor, who led the study, said:
“Although several studies have reported indirect evidence of improved muscle oxygenation during exercise after consuming nitrate-rich supplements such as beetroot juice, none of these studies directly measured blood flow to the contracting muscles.
Our study was the first to directly test this possibility in humans.”
This study was published in American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology (Lee et al., 2015).
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