The Beet Juice Thread
I have a couple of questions about beet juice usage and I apologize if a thread already exists. I did a search and couldn't find one so I thought I would add it.
First of all, are you using beet juice as a supplement and if so:
1) are you using it for training, racing or both?
2) what dosage and frequency are you using?
3) are you making your own juice or using a supplement/store bought product (Beet Elite/Biotta)?
Thanks in advance for your responses/help.
Todd
1
Comments
Todd, thanks for starting this interesting thread!
I've been experimenting with beet juice the last few months. I noticed an immediate boost within the first few days. I've tried a lot of different supplements, but this is the first one I noticed a difference.
I have been using Beet Elite since I'm not a big fan of beet juice. I take one dose on normal days and a double in the week leading up to a race.
I've read the beet juice is not effective for everyone, so your mileage may vary depending on whether you have the right biomarkers. Only one way to find out -- give it a try. If your experience is like mine, you'll notice within a few days whether it works.
Sorry, I've missed the beet juice conversations. What are the reported benefits?
The first I heard of beet juice was from Patrick's IMTX race report. I'm out of the loop on this one as well.
Keeping an open mind on this one as I do enjoy my supplements.
Andrew Coggan stated:
"And even in the published literature, the benefit seems to be greatest in non-trained or moderately-trained individuals, not in highly-trained endurance athletes, and even only during very high intensity exercise at that. (There's also the fact that the mechanism initially proposed/reported - i.e., that nitric oxide produced from dietary nitrate inhibits mitochondrial respiration, thus enhancing exercise efficiency - would require non-physiological levels of nitric oxide...but I digress.)
Now with all that said, I do believe (based on our studies, both published and unpublished) that dietary nitrate does enhance physical function/exercise performance...just (primarily) via a different mechanism/in a different context than most of the published studies suggest."
Granted.....that all sounds like a foreign language to me and I'm more interested in how people are using it and if there are real world benefits.
Tim Cusick, president of Peaks Coaching Group, has been using and testing BeetElite for 2 years. Coach Cusick states, "This natural beet product definitively works; take a shot 15 minutes before your race or ride and you will notice a difference!
BeetElite® is a superior source of dietary nitrate and nitrite that helps the body significantly increase physical endurance. It is more nutritious and efficient than drinking large bottles of beet juice. There is twice the N-O power in our 10g. Crystal Shot as a full bottle of regular beet juice as confirmed by HPLC and ozone-based chemiluminescence.
Here is a good article from Runner's World that summarizes the research. My n=1 is that it had a noticeable effect.
http://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/beet-juice-how-much-and-when
My beet endurance experience: I read up on it, followed beet protocol for supplementation before v02 / ft efforts last season, but it didn't seem to make a difference. And the taste was too toxic to continue.
Funny thing, yesterday I heard an advertisement for beet supplements on AM talk radio. Beets are blowing up! I also find it funny that people are after the nitrates in beets, but they don't want nitrates in their bacon?
I have been trying beet juice (Beet Elite) during races for about the last year. Initially, I used it during a race rehearsal week to see I felt any GI impact; I didn't. Subsequently have used during two full and one half IM. I'm not sure of the benefit. I certainly do not feel that there has been any negative impact. Coggan was testing and posting about his results in January of this year on his FB page (Training and Racing with a Power Meter) in January of this year. He presented data from his own measurements and some published data that supported the theory that Beet Juice raises Tissue Saturation and Hemoglobin levels here and also here.
I have typically used either the Beet It, fresh beet juice or a combination (depending on availability) starting about 72 hours before a race all the way through race morning.
if you try this, don't be surprised if after a couple of days all your bodily secretions look as if you have severe internal damage!
I am highly skeptical of beet juice. The whole category seems to have moved from general health to now performance enhancement as they try and find consumers of these brands.
If it works for you, great! Many people in most double blind studies showed marked improvement when given the placebo rather than the actual drug. The net effect I suppose is the same. If you "feel" it helped, worked, impacted your life, then great. Your perception is your reality.
I passed on a couple Beet Juice deals last year because it just didn't seem real from the perspective of an investment. The claims I have seen made were broad ranging and largely unsubstantiated. Now the segment seems to be focusing on endurance. Why not? AGers love to try new things. Picked Juice? Mustard?
I would be interested to see if 150 calories of simple glucose didn't do the same thing for most people.
Each individual has to draw that line between healthy eating and performance boosting tricks.
Over the last 2 years, I've made baby steps from the tricks to the healthy eating end of the spectrum. I've found that the healthier I eat over the long haul, the better I train/recover and the less I am looking for the sales pitched magic bullet.
This is not to say that any deficits can't be covered by the right supplements. But, that is to be investigated by each individual athlete.
Or convenience. Having a sponsor like this could make it easier for someone who doesn't want to spend any time in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with that. Everyone does everything a little bit different.
note: daily beets in my smoothies.
Just my .02 worth.
I've used beet juice consistently (4-6 times per week) for 2-3 months as an addition to my daily 'green juice'. Nets out to about half a beet worth of juice per day.
I am not a 'responder' as I noticed no difference (except for the aforementioned changes in byproduct color).
I do think that the more high quality nutrition you get, the less effect and value specific supplementation will have.
Finally, the amount of actual science (I'm a physicist) behind virtually all supplements is vanishingly small. So, if you can empirically establish an effect for yourself, great ... just make sure you don't get the same effect from eating a couple sugar packets (what Dino said)
Is there any reason for this?
Here is a peer-reviewed paper published this year with some interesting results. It is a double-blind placebo control. The control seemed to be pretty well chosen (it had more calories 19 vs 5, but this amount of calories is unlikely to explain any benefit @Dino Sarti @John Bayone). I think a peer reviewed, double-blind placebo control showing positive effects is a pretty good indication of something worth further consideration. But I still need to read through the whole article. The sample size was small, but they did see statistically significant results. I have a PhD in immunology, and this looks reasonably legit to me.
Excerpts taken from Van Hoorebeke et al 2016
http://www.mdpi.com/2075-4663/4/3/40/htm
"Beet Root Concentrate (BRC) (Racerunner®, FutureCeuticals, Momence, IL: serving size: 1 capsule (50 mg beetroot concentrate), 5 kcal, 0.1 mg protein, 1 mg carbohydrate, 0 mg fat, 0.3 mg fiber and 12.5 mg betalains) or control (serving size: 1 capsule, oat ß-glucans, Nutrim®, FutureCeuticals, Momence, IL: 19 kcal, 1 mg protein, 3 mg carbohydrate, 0.4 mg fat and 0.9 mg fiber). Oat ß-glucans were used as a control to match as close as possible all contents other than the betalains in the experimental treatment. "
Granted there was a conflict of interest, but the funding company supposedly did not influence study design of the manuscript.
Conflicts of Interest
Has anyone else successfully used this discount?
Thanks!
Beet-it and Beet Elite are my two favorites. Both are backed with solid science.
Links to Beet-it
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/ref2014/impact/lifesciences/beetroot/
http://beet-it.us/sport-shots-bars/
Links to Beet Elite
https://www.humann.com/science-overview/
https://www.humann.com/
The nitrate science is fascinating because there are other products that create a similar NO response. Two products I've used are:
Nitric Oxide Ultra stick packs by Pure Encapsuations and Pre-Race by First Endurance
https://www.pureencapsulations.com/media/Nitric Oxide Ultra stickpacks.pdf
I've used Pre-Race half way into the marathon in IM and loved it! It gives me the mental boost of caffeine and citrulline that acts as a NO.
https://firstendurance.com/how-prerace-works/
https://firstendurance.com/nutrition/prerace.html#product_section_description_tabbed
I live near University Calif Davis where the paper you referenced was done. UCD is also working on an Beet Study. They recruited athletes from the area. Waiting on the results.
_______________________________________
Short paper:
BEET Nutrition for Performance
Since 2007 many studies have been looking at the role of inorganic nitrate to enhance health and exercise performance. Lately, beets have become newsworthy because they were found to be a natural source of dietary nitrate. Following ingestion, the body reduces nitrate to nitric oxide which is responsible for dilating of blood vessels, thus increasing blood circulation and oxygen delivery to cells. The positive on exercise effects of nitric oxide are derived from its ability to increase muscle blood flow and regulate several muscle functions such as force production, mitochondrial activity, and glucose uptake. Add all this together and there is the potential for a reduced cost of oxygen during exercise which can improve tolerance.
In 2009 a scientific study was conducted at the University of Exeter in the U.K. Eight men aged between 19 and 38 were given 1.5 cups of beetroot juice per day for six consecutive days before completing a series of tests involving cycling on an exercise bike. On another occasion, they were given a placebo of blackcurrant cordial for six consecutive days before completing the same cycling tests. After drinking beetroot juice the group was able to cycle for an average of 11.25 minutes, which is 92 seconds longer than when they were given the placebo.
The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Saint Louis University, tested eleven recreationally fit men and women in a double-blind placebo controlled crossover treadmill time trial. They looked at whether eating 200 grams of whole beetroot, which is about 500 mg of nitrates, prior to exercise would improve running performance. The subjects ran two treadmill time trials in random sequence, once 75 minutes after consuming baked beetroot and once 75 minutes after consuming cranberry relish. During the last 1.1 miles of the 5-km run, running speed was 5% faster in the beetroot trial. Towards the end of the run rating of perceived exertion was lower with beetroot. It is fair to say that consumption of nitrate-rich, whole beetroot improves running performance in healthy adults.
How to become your own BEET ROCKET. Some of you reading this are probably thinking how am I supposed to consume all those earthly tasting beets before a race? Two valid products I am most familiar with are Beet Elite and Beet-It. Both have formulated beet shots that are equivalent to four to six beets. Beet Elite created beet crystals to be mixed in four ounces of water and taken 30 minutes prior to exercise. Beet-It has a ready to drink shot. If you don’t like the taste of beets you may want to try the Beet Elite crystals that has a black cherry taste. Keep in mind a harmless side effect of drinking concentrated beetroot juice is a pink coloration of urine. As with any ergogenic aid not everyone is a responder.
Jones, M., Andrew, Sports Med. 2014; 44(Suppl 1): 35–45. Dietary Nitrate Supplementation and Exercise Performance
Murphy, M., Eliot, K., Heuertz, R., Weiss, E. Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2012; 112(4):548-552.
Larsen FJ, Sschiffer TA, Borniquel S, et al. Dietary inorganic nitrate improves mitochondrial efficiency in humans. Cell Metab. 2011; 13(2): 149-59.
Interestingly, the AltRed/betalain product and study I referenced is free of nitrates. So it may work through a different mechanism. But they did not measure nitric oxide in the blood of the participants, so it may have spiked NO independently of the nitrates.
Thanks!
-Rob
Your article on Betalain is the first I've heard of that as a precursor to NO.
Here is video showing how Polyphenols from cranberries and grapes can create another mechanism to enhance NO. Scroll to around minute 40 if you don't want too much science stuff.
Also, I tried Beet Performer two weeks ago when I was in Leadville for the MTB race. The stuff tastes wicked! They were handing out samples.
https://www.runnersworld.com/sweat-science/beet-juice-keeps-your-brain-young?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebutton
Keeping BEETS alive. This product Beet Boost http://beetboost.com/ has not only beets in it but also tart cherries. BeetBoost is 100% pure concentrated beet juice plus tart cherry which is high in anthocyanins which are in the polyphenol family which is good for cognitive and cardiovascular function.
You can use the code boost20 at checkout for a 20% discount.