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rich and earthy beets are one of the world's most popular root vegetables and one of the world's
healthiest foods these gorgeous purple red bulbs are packed with a wealth of vitamins minerals and
compounds making the beets a healthy addition to your diet no matter how you prepare it you can
juice it or blend it into a refreshing drink or smoothie now as with all vegetables cooking
beets can cause nutrient loss if you don't have a juicer or a blender beet powder is also available
that's my go-to because it's super quick and easy beets contain nitric oxide the powerhouse molecule
that drives your body forward not to be confused with nitrous oxide aka laughing gas you're crazy
remember the nitrogen cycle from school inorganic nitrate
is found in all plants with leafy green vegetables like spinach and celery
but also beets which actually have the highest amounts nitric oxide plays an essential role
in your overall physical health it lets your blood transport nutrients and oxygen
across your body efficiently by controlling your blood flow it plays a role in the immune function
and it plays a role in energy levels because of its involvement in mitochondrial function
nitrates are also a boon for heart health having long been associated with lower resting blood
pressure increasing your ingestion of nitrates can slow the cardiovascular aging process an important
marker for your overall heart health when you eat or drink beets bacteria on your tongue along with
other enzymes in your body convert nitrate ion to nitric oxide which your body can also produce from
arginine which is an amino acid your body also produces another amino acid called citrulline
which is converted by your body into arginine this process aided by your diet provides about
half the nitric oxide in your body beets and beets juice aren't just a fantastic source of nitrates
they also offer a wealth of other essential minerals including folate iron zinc and magnesium
if increasing nitrate intake can increase nutrient-packed blood flow and oxygen to your
muscles then your body's performance and response should improve when exercising or competing
research is still ongoing with more comprehensive studies needed but so far the results are highly
encouraging these studies typically examine results from a single dose of beets juice
however many have not determined the exact dose of nitrate within the beets juice given
to participants this means that there's little knowledge on the optimum dose for performance
in one study that did determine the nitrate dose given eight men drink half a liter beet juice a
day for six days results showed that each subject improved their time to complete exhaustion despite
reduced oxygen consumption a finding that's consistent with other studies available today in
another study using water as a control treatment they took 10 young men and gave them 70 140
and 280 milliliters of beet juice while resting in just before moderate in high-intensity cycling
exercise this study showed that plasma nitrate concentration rose corresponding to the dose
given reaching a peak around two to three hours after drinking researchers also found that the
lowest volume the 70 milliliters did not have any impact on performance at the same time the higher
doses led to lower oxygen consumption and improved performance compared to the control preliminary
research on nitrate ingestion often using beet juice demonstrated clear performance benefits
one that other studies supported presently more research is still needed for a clear picture
but for now studies show encouraging results particularly with young men of average fitness
for men who are already at peak fitness however studies so far don't show any benefit what the
research consistently shows is that drinking beets juice for one week or even just a few hours before
exercise the body's plasma nitrate concentration increases as the resting blood pressure decreases
during exercise oxygen consumption falls a little bit and the overall performance of the exercise
is judged to have improved markedly researchers believe these findings result from enhanced muscle
performance an increase in efficient mitochondrial atp production and more blood flow to the muscles
a 2015 study showed that beet juice offered benefits to those with heart failure
the results noted that the subjects each of whom suffered from this condition experienced
a 13 increase in muscle power just two hours after taking beets juice in 2011 another study which was
done on rats found that beetroot had a positive impact on lowering cholesterol not just lowering
the total cholesterol but also triglycerides all while actually increasing the good cholesterol the
hdl cholesterol so this study also found that beets can reduce oxidative liver stress the
researchers concluded that these results were due to the phytonutrients found in the root vegetable
research has even demonstrated that nitrates might slow the terrible progress of dementia
in 2011 test subjects consumed a high nitrate diet with beets juice mri scans of their brains
showed an apparent increase in blood flow to their frontal lobes which deal with cognitive processes
like thinking and behavior again more research is needed but preliminary results do look encouraging
consuming beets can cause something called beeturia an elegant way of saying that it turns
your urine to a pinkish reddish color which is completely harmless and it can look pretty cool if
you pee in the snow people with low blood pressure may want to skip or carefully regulate their beets
juice consumption nitrates do after all lower blood pressure also if you're prone to kidney
stones you also have to be careful because they have high concentrations of oxalate oxalate forms
the crystals in your urine that can eventually turn into stones which can make a grown man cry
currently there are no identified risks for adverse health consequences
with an increased nitrate intake one identified exception to this is those with heart disease
on prescription medications like nitroglycerin that impact the body's metabolism of nitric oxide
with little research into the side effects of consuming a lot of nitrate supplements
sensible precaution is advised as with all significant changes to diet or lifestyle
it's recommended that you speak with your doctor first thanks for watching if you like this video
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