Beetroot juice?

Merlin5

Merlin5

Merlin5

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Just watched an experiment on TV ('Food Unwrapped') where they reckon Beetroot juice is good for endurance. Woman presenter went to a gym and shown two identical bottles by a sports scientist. One filled with the juice and one filled with a placebo (beetroot juice with its nitrate removed).

She was given one of the bottles of the juice to swallow (without knowing if she had the placebo or not) and then wait two hours for the nitrate to convert to nitrite in her body. Each bottle contains the equivalent of 6 medium sized beetroots. Then onto an exercise bike doing a consistent speed of 80 reps a minute with the resistance increasing, going to exhaustion. She was exhausted and stopped after 10 minutes. Next day, drank the other bottle, did 30 seconds longer and didn't feel the exhaustion till those last 30 seconds. Turns out that was the bottle with the nitrate.

What do you reckon? 30 seconds isn't much and maybe she just happened to feel a bit more energetic on that day regardless of the juice. Or is nitrate really beneficial? You can see it here from 42.31

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/food-unwrapped/on-demand/59510-014
 
When I looked into it, it may help some people to some extent - nothing is ever quite that clear cut but even the placebo effect may make it worthwhile (albeit the cost is pretty high)
 
touch said:
Team Belkin give their riders at the Tour de France one of the little bottles of concentrated beetroot juice in their lunch bag.
Click to expand...

I remember hearing about that and that's what made me not think that this whole idea was a pile of cack but it looks like that might be incorrect.

I was also under the impression that the idea of the beetroot juice in those situations was to improve circulation or something?
 
FrenchTart said:
I remember hearing about that and that's what made me not think that this whole idea was a pile of cack but it looks like that might be incorrect.

I was also under the impression that the idea of the beetroot juice in those situations was to improve circulation or something?
Click to expand...

I have no idea what the reasons for it are. I expect it's well researched though, pro teams have big nutrition budgets.

..but still the riders didnt drink it because it tastes awful :p
 
Seems like the nitrate reduces metabolic cost of... err... metabolism.

As such, where the body is having to increase its activity rate for any reason, "acute supplementation of nitrate" would reduce the level of perceived pain/effort, or at least the onset of perceived fatigue.

In other words, if you're doing a monster squat-a-thon at high intensity, it probably won't help much, but if you're doing Crossfit, it might help a bit. On the flipside, if you're cycling/running/whatever, then it will help your aerobic efforts.

If you're in the category of sportsperson where you're into marginal gains making the difference between winning/losing, then I'd suggest it. If you're an average joe, then there are a lot of other things that will help before you need to start taking this stuff, or where it would result in anything noticeable/appreciable.

Does that mean "don't do it?" No. Does it mean "manage your expectations?" Yes. Most people would do well just to get their diet right first time around AND THEN concentrate on funny stuff like this. :)
 
mrthingyx said:
Seems like the nitrate reduces metabolic cost of... err... metabolism.

As such, where the body is having to increase its activity rate for any reason, "acute supplementation of nitrate" would reduce the level of perceived pain/effort, or at least the onset of perceived fatigue.

In other words, if you're doing a monster squat-a-thon at high intensity, it probably won't help much, but if you're doing Crossfit, it might help a bit. On the flipside, if you're cycling/running/whatever, then it will help your aerobic efforts.

If you're in the category of sportsperson where you're into marginal gains making the difference between winning/losing, then I'd suggest it. If you're an average joe, then there are a lot of other things that will help before you need to start taking this stuff, or where it would result in anything noticeable/appreciable.

Does that mean "don't do it?" No. Does it mean "manage your expectations?" Yes. Most people would do well just to get their diet right first time around AND THEN concentrate on funny stuff like this. :)
Click to expand...

Excellent post:)
 
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