The study by Exeter University shows that beetroot juice provides cyclists such a boost that they can shave crucial seconds off their time. The earlier studies have already credited beetroot juice with increasing stamina. From decreasing blood pressure to warding off dementia, it can give pensioner an extra energy they require to make a trip to the shops.
The beetroot contains abundance of nitrite, once inside the body the chemical works by widening the blood vessels, pacing oxygen flow to the muscles and allowing them to breathe in most of the oxygen. In the recent study, the Exeter team asked nine cyclists to compete time trials over two and half and ten miles.
Prior to going they drank just under a pint of beetroot juice. They repeated the two routes on a different day, but this time fuelled by beetroot juice missing its nitrite. The team found that when cyclists drank the nitrite-rich, ordinary beetroot juice, they were eleven second quicker over shorter distance and forty-five second quicker in longer distance.
The study results showed that nitrite allowed cyclist’s muscles and heart to work more efficiently. According to lead researcher Prof Andrew Jones, this is for the first time they have studied the effects of beetroot juice and high nitrite levels found in it. These findings show an improvement in performance at completion levels that could make a real difference.
It is not just the trained athletes who could benefit, with enhanced use of oxygen making it easier for the old and frail to complete everyday tasks, counting recapturing the energy required to walk to the shops, added Prof Jones. The study was published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.