Created on Monday, July 08, 2013 12:55 pm
In recent years, scientists from England and the U.S. have conducted experiments showing that drinking red beet juice produces remarkable beneficial effects. Red beet juice improves endurance, lowers high blood pressure and increases blood flow to the brain. It has now also been established that the high nitrate content of beet juice is responsible for this.
The first experiment was conducted among 14 healthy adults. They had to drink half a liter of organic red beet juice or water. After this, blood pressure was measured at various times, among other things. It was found that after drinking the beet juice, systolic (upper) blood pressure was about 10mm lower. The researchers believed that the nitrate in the red beet juice is converted in the body to nitrite which in turn increases the levels of nitric oxide (NO). This important signaling substance causes blood vessels to dilate.
In a second study at another English university, men had to cycle on an exercise bike after drinking half a liter of red beet juice a day for six days, or the same amount of red berry juice until they were exhausted. One was able to cycle an average of 11minutes and 25 seconds after drinking the beet juice. This was 1 minute and 32 seconds longer than after drinking the berry juice. Red beet juice was also found to have a beneficial effect on blood pressure in this study.
Recently, American scientists conducted an experiment with people over 70. Subjects had to alternate between consuming a low-nitrate breakfast and a high-nitrate breakfast ( in the form of a glass of red beet juice) for two days. This was followed by MRI scans to measure blood flow to the brain. It was found that after breakfast with the beet juice, blood flow to the brain – especially to the frontal lobes – was better with a likely positive effect on memory and other aspects of thinking ability.
All of these experiments assumed that the nitrate in the beet juice brings about the beneficial effects. This conclusion turns out to be correct. Two types of beet juice were recently experimented with. One of them had the nitrate filtered out. It was found that the subjects’ oxygen demand was about 15% lower after drinking the unfiltered red beet juice.
Nitrate and nitrite are not beneficial nutrients in all circumstances They are also often added to foods such as meats as preservatives. In the stomach, nitrites can be converted into the carcinogenic nitrosamines through a chemical reaction. It is known that vitamin C prevents this and converts the nitrites into harmless compounds. The stomach lining also secretes vitamin C for this purpose. This is partially confirmed by laboratory studies. The formation of three carcinogenic nitrosamines was largely or completely prevented by added vitamin C. However, when the gastric juice consisted of 10% fatty acids, added vitamin C was actually found to multiply the formation of nitrosamines. Vitamin C stimulates the conversion of nitrite into NO (the substance so good for blood vessels). But a high concentration of NO can trigger adverse reactions with fats. According to the researchers, this may explain the disappointing anti-cancer effect of vitamin C in practice. Fat stays in the stomach for a relatively long time. Extra vitamin C much shorter. The combination of nitrate-rich food + vitamin C is good but nitrate-rich food + lots of fat + lots of vitamin C is not.
Apart from red beets, spinach, endive and lettuce, among others, also contain significant amounts of nitrate.
During the 2012 Tour de France, a new study on a test involving cyclists emerged. The riders had to ride 2 x time trials of 4km and 16km. 2 1/2 hours before the rides they drank half a liter of red beet juice that sometimes contained nitrate and other times did not. Performance after drinking the plain, nitrate-rich, red beet juice was better than after the juice from which the nitrate had been extracted. On average, the difference was 11 seconds on the 4km time trial and 45 seconds on the 16km time trial. This was because for the same oxygen consumption one could generate more energy (watts). A blood vessel dilating effect of the nitrate and the lower oxygen demand of the muscles are responsible for this. The authors emphasize that, apart from the nitrate, the polyphenols and betacyanin in red beets may also have beneficial effects on health and performance.
