Power Your Body with Beets
Beet juice has a reputation for supporting exercise performance, energy and cardiovascular health. The main way it does this is by boosting nitric oxide production in the body. Beet nitrates get converted during digestion and metabolism into nitric oxide. Nitrates are first broken down by saliva into nitrites (so savour the taste!), which then turn into nitric oxide in the body. Nitric oxide is a gaseous, signaling molecule that is beneficial in small amounts as it causes blood vessels to relax for improved circulation.
This conversion is helped by things like vitamin C, polyphenols and CoQ10 and leads lots of positive effects for blood vessel and cell health like vasodilation, better tissue perfusion of oxygen and nutrients, normalized blood pressure and mitochondrial biogenesis (an increase in size and numbers of the little energy factories that power our cells). The conversion process can take a couple of hours so if you’re planning on drinking some beet juice before a run or workout, keep that timing in mind.
Beets also contain minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, silica, phosphorous, manganese and potassium while the vitamin content includes B1, B2, B6, C and folate. Beets also contain antioxidants that support liver health: betanin is the main red pigmented antioxidant in beet roots.
In a “Systematic Review1 of Effects of Beet Juice on Endurance in Athletes”, the authors found that beet juice can improve cardiorespiratory endurance in athletes by:
- increasing cardio and energy efficiency
- increasing time to exhaustion
- increasing VO2 max (a measurement of lung volume and oxygen carrying capacity)
- improving cardiorespiratory performance during anaerobic exercise
Flora Red Beet Crystals are a nutritious, energizing superfood that help to boost nitric oxide levels in the body to support cardiovascular health and exercise performance. This naturally sweet tasting, instantly soluble product is a pure concentrate that is carefully obtained from the juice of freshly harvested, organic beet roots.