beetroot juice anyone??

daludo

I read recently that beetroot juice is very beneficial to cyclists as it boosts red blood cell count.anyone here drinking it?have you noticed any difference in your performance??

MidlandsM

turns your urine purple!

colm_gti

Only one study to date in cyclists, pretty small cohort, and over small distances...but given the constraints, the results DO suggest that acute supplementation of beetroot juice improves power output...

Purpose: Dietary nitrate supplementation has been shown to reduce the O2 cost of submaximal exercise and to improve high-intensity exercise tolerance. However, it is presently unknown whether it may enhance performance during simulated competition. The present study investigated the effects of acute dietary nitrate supplementation on power output (PO), V˙O2, and performance during 4- and 16.1-km cycling time trials (TT).

Methods: After familiarization, nine club-level competitive male cyclists were assigned in a randomized, crossover design to consume 0.5 L of beetroot juice (BR; containing ∼6.2 mmol of nitrate) or 0.5 L of nitrate-depleted BR (placebo, PL; containing ∼0.0047 mmol of nitrate), ∼2.5 h before the completion of a 4- and a 16.1-km TT.

Results: BR supplementation elevated plasma [nitrite] (PL = 241 ± 125 vs BR = 575 ± 199 nM, P < 0.05). The V˙O2 values during the TT were not significantly different between the BR and PL conditions at any elapsed distance (P > 0.05), but BR significantly increased mean PO during the 4-km (PL = 279 ± 51 vs BR = 292 ± 44 W, P < 0.05) and 16.1-km TT (PL = 233 ± 43 vs BR = 247 ± 44 W, P < 0.01). Consequently, BR improved 4-km performance by 2.8% (PL = 6.45 ± 0.42 vs BR = 6.27 ± 0.35 min, P < 0.05) and 16.1-km performance by 2.7% (PL = 27.7 ± 2.1 vs BR = 26.9 ± 1.8 min, P < 0.01).

Conclusions: These results suggest that acute dietary nitrate supplementation with 0.5 L of BR improves cycling economy, as demonstrated by a higher PO for the same V˙O2 and enhances both 4- and 16.1-km cycling TT performance.

TLDR, if you can stomach the taste, it's probably not going to make you any slower, though it will make you lighter in your wallet department...

colm_gti

Found another study based on nitrate supplementation, as opposed to beetroot juice...

Abstract
PURPOSE:
Humans can reduce inorganic nitrate (NO(3)(-)) to nitrite (NO(2)(-)), nitric oxide (NO), and other bioactive nitrogen oxides. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that a single dose of inorganic nitrate before exercise might enhance the tolerance of endurance athletes to high intensity exercise.
METHODS:
Eleven cyclists (age = 34.3 ± 4.8 yr, VO(2peak) = 65.1 ± 6.2 mL·kg(-1)·min(-1)) participated in this randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Subjects received dietary supplementation with nitrate (NaNO(3) 10 mg·kg(-1) of body mass) or a placebo (NaCl) 3 h before exercise. They then performed a cycle ergometer test that consisted of four 6-min submaximal workloads, corresponding to 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, and 3.5 W·kg(-1) of body mass, interspersed with 3 min of passive recovery. After a 5-min recovery period, subjects performed one incremental exercise test until exhaustion.
RESULTS:
Plasma nitrate and nitrite were significantly higher (P < 0.05) 3 h after supplementation (nitrate = 250 ± 80 μM, nitrite = 2313 ± 157 nM) than after the placebo (nitrate = 29 ± 8 μM, nitrite = 1998 ± 206 nM) at resting conditions. Nitrate supplementation significantly reduced VO(2peak)(nitrate = 4.64 ± 0.35 L·min(-1), placebo = 4.82 ± 0.33 L·min(-1), P = 0.010) and the ratio between VO(2) and power at maximal intensity (nitrate = 11.2 ± 1.1 mL·min(-1)·W(-1), placebo = 11.8 ± 1.1 mL·min(-1)·W(-1), P = 0.031). This reduction of VO(2) occurred without changes in the time to exhaustion (nitrate = 416 ± 32 s, placebo = 409 ± 27 s) or in the maximal power (nitrate = 416 ± 29 W, placebo = 410 ± 28 W).
CONCLUSIONS:
A single oral dose of inorganic nitrate acutely reduces VO(2peak)without compromising the maximal exercise performance.

Reduces the oxygen uptake for a given power...

Results seem to back each other up to me...

One keeps VO2peak constant (I'm assuming) and power goes up, the other keeps power constant and VO2peak is lower than in the placebo group. Won't do you any harm from a performance point of view anyway...

pelevin

Know nothing about improvements to athletic performance but use quite regularly in juicing - mostly vegetable mixes with apple or two added as only fruit addition - and beetroot is not unpleasant at all, in fact the contrary, and root vegetables, i.e. those growing beneath the ground, have high sugar content. Also the beetroot gives a lovely colour to the juice.
As aside, if juicing apparently apples are the only fruit that should be added to a veg mix . . . something to do with the digestive process.

Hmmzis

Interesting, there is a type of soup that I like to eat fairly regularly, not sure if there is an actual English name for it. The main ingredients are cooked and grated beetroot, potatoes and some finely cut beef pieces (ribs can be used, too), lemon or lime juice is added at the end to reduce the sweetness a bit, can be eaten with sour cream mixed in.

Not sure if it adds anything to my performance but it tastes lovely after a long or tough ride. Sometimes I might even get a craving for it.

If and when I get a power meeter I might do an experiment, one month with that soup at least once a week and one month without it while keeping everything else the same. Could be interesting :cool:.

colm_gti

Hmmzis wrote: »

If and when I get a power meeter I might do an experiment, one month with that soup at least once a week and one month without it while keeping everything else the same. Could me interesting :cool:.

Make sure you do all the testing on the same turbo, with the same tyres, at the same air pressure, at the same time of day, in the same temperatures, with the same warm up and cool down, keeping absolutely everything else in your diet identical etc etc....

And even then, how do you know whether you're stronger due to training or due to nitrate supplementation....

Oh science :rolleyes:

Hmmzis

colm_gti wrote: »

Make sure you do all the testing on the same turbo, with the same tyres, at the same air pressure, at the same time of day, in the same temperatures, with the same warm up and cool down, keeping absolutely everything else in your diet identical etc etc....

And even then, how do you know whether you're stronger due to training or due to nitrate supplementation....

Oh science :rolleyes:

All good points, but first I'll have to get that power meter

I guess this should be done best when a certain level of fitness has been achieved and any gains become very difficult to get. Then a sudden jump of almost 3% in the power output will be quite visible.

kenmc

Tastes lovely, had beetroot and carrot juice many times in Bangkok, they sell it at skytrain (no, not /that/ one) stations.

Lumen

I tried this a couple of years ago. It was horrible. I didn't feel any faster.

CramCycle

I like beetroot. I am in the minority.

It won't empty your wallet if you juice them yourself but buying the premade juice (which is usually mixed with a load of apple juice) is costly.

Seaneh

You can buy a bag of 4 beetroots in their own juice for less than a euro in any supermarket.

CramCycle

Seaneh wrote: »

You can buy a bag of 4 beetroots in their own juice for less than a euro in any supermarket.

I get mine from aldi or Lidl for approx 49c for 4 in a vacuum bag or a jar of them for 1.49 for about the same amount.

uphillonly

I was part of a double blind beetroot study a couple of years ago at St Mary's University in London.

The test involved a 20km time trial on a turbo. He was measuring my power, HR, lactate build up, VO2. I got free VO2 max and lactate threshold results out of it.

I saw a 1.5% improvement in the time trial which was 30 seconds over 30 minutes. My average power increased by 4%. This was consistent with all the other participants results and in line with other studies. I think he said at the time that this was the longest proper study with Beetroot/nitrate. As it was double blind I was taking plain tablets with & without the nitrates.

Off the back of this I've since used the Beet It stamina shots for big events & long training days. The shots are very small so not too unpleasant to take (especially chilled) & have minimal pink side effects unlike drinking whole bottles of beetroot juice, which can have colourful results..... I'll definitely be taking them everyday on the Haute Route next month. I used them both times I broke the hour on Alpe d'Huez.

http://www.beet-it.com/sport/
I've always picked mine up in the UK as I haven't found an Irish stockist yet. Unlike a lot of snake oil companies they are so convinced by the effectiveness of it that the sell placebo bottles as well to be used in further studies.

One of the great things is that the effects are fast & you don't have to take it repeatedly. One dose a couple of hours before your event is enough.

Seaneh

uphillonly wrote: »

I was part of a double blind beetroot study a couple of years ago at St Mary's University in London.

The test involved a 20km time trial on a turbo. He was measuring my power, HR, lactate build up, VO2. I got free VO2 max and lactate threshold results out of it.

I saw a 1.5% improvement in the time trial which was 30 seconds over 30 minutes. My average power increased by 4%. This was consistent with all the other participants results and in line with other studies. I think he said at the time that this was the longest proper study with Beetroot/nitrate. As it was double blind I was taking plain tablets with & without the nitrates.

Off the back of this I've since used the Beet It stamina shots for big events & long training days. The shots are very small so not too unpleasant to take (especially chilled) & have minimal pink side effects unlike drinking whole bottles of beetroot juice, which can have colourful results..... I'll definitely be taking them everyday on the Haute Route next month. I used them both times I broke the hour on Alpe d'Huez.

http://www.beet-it.com/sport/
I've always picked mine up in the UK as I haven't found an Irish stockist yet. Unlike a lot of snake oil companies they are so convinced by the effectiveness of it that the sell placebo bottles as well to be used in further studies.

One of the great things is that the effects are fast & you don't have to take it repeatedly. One dose a couple of hours before your event is enough.

How about I just eat a beetroot?

Would that work too?

Jawgap

Apparently it's been shown that it's the nitrate component of the juice that confers the benefit and dietary nitrate is found in a whole range of fruits and vegetables, not just beets.

Rashers and sausages are also high in nitrates, but before anyone tries to boost endurance by having a feed of bacon and sausages, the sodium content is also excessive, before you get to consider other nutritional aspects of them

Lumen

Jawgap wrote: »

Apparently it's been shown that it's the nitrate component of the juice that confers the benefit and dietary nitrate is found in a whole range of fruits and vegetables, not just beets.

Rashers and sausages are also high in nitrates, but before anyone tries to boost endurance by having a feed of bacon and sausages, the sodium content is also excessive, before you get to consider other nutritional aspects of them

The whole area of nitrates (and nitrosamines) is a bit of a minefield. I would be a bit shy of stuffing my body with an unnatural volume of a particular type of chemicals, whether natural or not, for the sake of 1.5% or whatever more performance in amateur/non-competitive sport.

If it was possible to get a significant performance boost from nitrates with no bad side effects, would we not have evolved a nitrate gland?

Jawgap

Lumen wrote: »

The whole area of nitrates (and nitrosamines) is a bit of a minefield. I would be a bit shy of stuffing my body with an unnatural volume of a particular type of chemicals, whether natural or not, for the sake of 1.5% or whatever more performance in amateur/non-competitive sport.

If it was possible to get a significant performance boost from nitrates with no bad side effects, would we not have evolved a nitrate gland?

But you could say the same thing about any number or vitamins or micro-nutrients - why didin't we just evolve a Vitamin C gland?

I think the important words in the research are 'dietary nitrates' - eat what's there naturally rather than munching on bags of this......

Lumen

Jawgap wrote: »

But you could say the same thing about any number or vitamins or micro-nutrients - why didin't we just evolve a Vitamin C gland?

We possibly de-evolved the capacity to generate vitamin C because (a) it is so widely available in food, and (b) excess vitamin C doesn't give a performance advantage in terms of outrunning sabre tooth tigers or whatever.

daragh_

I've tried it. Once, last week in advance of the ICL Club Champs. I didn't win.

That's all the proof I need.

Also it's probably the worst thing I've ever tasted and I've tasted this.

smithslist

uphillonly wrote: »

http://www.beet-it.com/sport/
I've always picked mine up in the UK as I haven't found an Irish stockist yet. Unlike a lot of snake oil companies they are so convinced by the effectiveness of it that the sell placebo bottles as well to be used in further studies.

Superquinn now stock Beet It(500ml or similar size), they don't do the shot bottles though. All good health shops also supply Beet It(or beetroot juice). Also Evergreen.ie do Beet It at a reasonable price, not sure how much you pay in UK for it.

petethedrummer

daragh_ wrote: »

Also it's probably the worst thing I've ever tasted and I've tasted this.

Beetroot juice enema? No need to worry about taste. Also quicker absorption into the bloodstream.

daragh_

petethedrummer wrote: »

Beetroot juice enema? No need to worry about taste. Also quicker absorption into the bloodstream.

You are seriously overestimating my commitment to Cycling.

check_six

So refreshing to have a discussion about juice, rather than "the juice"!

daragh_ wrote: »

I've tried it. Once, last week in advance of the ICL Club Champs. I didn't win.

That's all the proof I need.

Also it's probably the worst thing I've ever tasted and I've tasted this.

That stuff you linked to (Zwack Unicum), to give our more innocent readers a flavour, probably is the taste equivalent of bottling satan's jacks water after a particularly turbulent bathroom episode following a dodgy curry the night before. Suffice to say it is not something you'd try twice.

A friend produced a bottle of the stuff at a party and we took turns taking sips of the foul stuff, the look of contorted horror on each person's face was a sight to behold. Apart from one guy, who thought it was actually quite nice, and a pleasant alternative to the other stuff available. He actually went looking for the stuff on a visit to Budapest following the party. Cracked!

uphillonly

smithslist wrote: »

Superquinn now stock Beet It(500ml or similar size), they don't do the shot bottles though. All good health shops also supply Beet It(or beetroot juice). Also Evergreen.ie do Beet It at a reasonable price, not sure how much you pay in UK for it.

I find the full bottles a bit more Beetroot than I want to drink. It also makes everything pink, if you catch my drift. The shots have very little pink effect.

As to whether it's worth it. We spend money on wheels, frames, lose weight, train, do hill repeats, boring turbo sessions, eat the carbs, drink that triple espresso, skin suits for TTs etc. So why not add another proven performance enhancer if it works for you.

It's all about marginal gains now.....

Jawgap

Sounds a bit like Fernet Branca - great for clearing the decks in mid session and making room for more beer.

CramCycle

daragh_ wrote: »

Also it's probably the worst thing I've ever tasted and I've tasted this.

I really thought you had made a lifestyle choice change that I was surprised your OH was OK with :eek: Then I clicked on the link, still not convinced.

daragh_

CramCycle wrote: »

I really thought you had made a lifestyle choice change that I was surprised your OH was OK with :eek: Then I clicked on the link, still not convinced.

It's a real thing. Hungarian guest brought a bottle of it and insisted we share in it's delights. She was honestly surprised at our retching and flailing about on the floor.

check_six

daragh_ wrote: »

She was honestly surprised at our retching and flailing about on the floor.

Ah yes, the retching, and the flailing. This is consistent with my experience. Very consistent!

It's hard to convey the nature of this stuff in words. The only 'good' thing it has going for it, is that it comes in really teeny tiny bottles, so there is not much of it. Having said that, it hung around our place for months, even after a number of parties.

TinyExplosions

daragh_ wrote: »

It's a real thing. Hungarian guest brought a bottle of it and insisted we share in it's delights. She was honestly surprised at our retching and flailing about on the floor.

We tried it when in Budapest, and it's s vile as the others are saying ;(

Brian?

Didn't Dennis Menchov put his success down to large amounts of Borscht, a beet root stew.

There's the only answer you need.

kumate_champ07

Lumen wrote: »

The whole area of nitrates (and nitrosamines) is a bit of a minefield. I would be a bit shy of stuffing my body with an unnatural volume of a particular type of chemicals, whether natural or not, for the sake of 1.5% or whatever more performance in amateur/non-competitive sport.

If it was possible to get a significant performance boost from nitrates with no bad side effects, would we not have evolved a nitrate gland?

loading up on baking soda/sodium bicarbonate before events has been shown to improve performance, but apparently can also cause explosive diarrhea

http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/464193/Bicarbonate_-_website_fact_sheet.pdf

colm_gti

Relatives of mine lived in Budapest for some time, we've gone through numerous bottles of that stuff....I actually don't think it's the worst thing I've ever drank, but then again, I went through a phase of drinking draft beer in coppers....

el tel

I have watched the movie beetroot juice and it did not affect my cycling performance one way or the other :pac:

Craig06

The Beet It juice doesn't taste too bad. A litre bottle is 4 euro in the health shop in Liffey valley. I found when I drink it my legs don't seem to burn on big efforts. Obviously a decrease in lactate setting in.

colm_gti

Spurred on by this thread, I nipped in to the health store as I was passing by this morning and picked up a few of the beet-it shots, it says to allow an hour to digest, grand, I'll lash one in now and get out on the bike at about half 10.

Well holy cr*p, it nearly came back out as quick as it went in! Vom-tastic! I don't think a 4% gain is worth that to me...

petethedrummer

What a lovely day, Beetnik Martini anyone?


http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2013/03/beetnik-martini

Dermot Illogical

daragh_ wrote: »

Also it's probably the worst thing I've ever tasted and I've tasted this.

How many students does it take to fill a bottle that size?

uphillonly

colm_gti wrote: »

Well holy cr*p, it nearly came back out as quick as it went in! Vom-tastic! I don't think a 4% gain is worth that to me...

That's part of the watts/kg advantage Beetroot gives you, important to take it close to the race so you don't have time to replace the lost weight.

Sounds like Zwack Unicum (what a name) has similar benefits.

j@utis

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that beetroot juice can lower your blood pressure... significantly... I used to drink a glass of freshly squeezed beetroot + bramley apple juice (1 beet and 1 apple) after my spin. On its own it tastes horrible but if you mix it with something sour - mmm it's delicious.
Once the beetroot happened to be bigger size than usual. I didn't think much of it, made the juice, drank the it and proceeded to take the shower and nearly collapsed on the bathroom floor, room started spinning, I suddenly felt shaky and weak. I had to hold onto the things on the way back to the kitchen just not to fall over, made myself a cup of strong coffee to bring the blood pressure back up. It was really scary, I never felt like that before + I was alone in the house. I halved the amount of beets going into my glass of juice since.

RobertFoster

Dermot Illogical wrote: »

How many students does it take to fill a bottle that size?

I thought it had something to do with the essence of unicorns. If it's as vile as some say, it would explain why there are so few around. Like pandas, they're just not really into each other.

inc21

Had my first beet it shot just now. Taste was not great but was expecting much worse. Now, hope it makes difference on the bike

petethedrummer

j@utis wrote: »

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned that beetroot juice can lower your blood pressure... significantly... I used to drink a glass of freshly squeezed beetroot + bramley apple juice (1 beet and 1 apple) after my spin. On its own it tastes horrible but if you mix it with something sour - mmm it's delicious.
Once the beetroot happened to be bigger size than usual. I didn't think much of it, made the juice, drank the it and proceeded to take the shower and nearly collapsed on the bathroom floor, room started spinning, I suddenly felt shaky and weak. I had to hold onto the things on the way back to the kitchen just not to fall over, made myself a cup of strong coffee to bring the blood pressure back up. It was really scary, I never felt like that before + I was alone in the house. I halved the amount of beets going into my glass of juice since.

wait, are you talking about beetroot or heroin?

inc21

inc21 wrote: »

Had my first beet it shot just now. Taste was not great but was expecting much worse. Now, hope it makes difference on the bike

it must have worked my longest ever ride 124k done and I am still breathing...





....just about though

jnoone94

I used beetroot juice for a good while about a year ago. noticed a difference once i got to over 80 or 90k when i felt unusually comfortable and lively when id usually start to be feelin a bit sluggish. didnt notice a huge difference when racing however. also i hate the taste of the stuff

daragh_

In a effort to be really scientific I knocked back another shot of this before Mondello last night.

I didn't win that either. And by 'didn't win' I mean 'skulked around the back playing catch up on every corner'.

paulieb2006

Beet-it Shots. I use these a lot. On rides over 50km mostly. Great for endurance in my view more than for power! Evergreen as far as I know have sold them to Irish marathon runners based in the states and also to the IRFU. http://www.evergreen.ie/beet-it-beetroot-shot/007017pd.aspx
Just my own opinion, It does turn your P!ss pink, which can be a fright at the start.

on_the_nickel

Does beetroot give anyone else a touch of the *ahem*....wildies?

Dermot Illogical

on_the_nickel wrote: »

Does beetroot give anyone else a touch of the *ahem*....wildies?

Wildies? Elucidate...

on_the_nickel

Dermot Illogical wrote: »

Wildies? Elucidate...

The wild sh!tes.

Dermot Illogical

on_the_nickel wrote: »

The wild sh!tes.

I was thinking something entirely different.
Thanks!