Beeroot juice improves blood vessels under resting conditions

Beetroot health benefits. image credit: Jantoo Cartoons

Athletes, who consume beetroot juice before exercising, are on the assumption that it will  increase blood flow and improve performance level. While beetroot juice rich in nitrates did not enhance muscle blood flow or vascular dilation during exercise, as previously thought, a study undertaken by David Proctor, professor of Kinesiology and physiology at Penn State,U.S.A found that it did '' De-stiffening'' blood vessels under resting conditions, potentially easing the workload of the heart.The athletes are now in surprise.

Beetroot juice improves resting condition. NutraIngredients.com

To improve their ability to withstand muscle fatigue during repeated spells of high intensity exercise and improve blood and oxygen flow in their muscles during training and competition, endurance athletes consume the crimson supplement.

image credit: Nutri Choice 4 U

Beetroot juice also had no effect on the dilation (widening) of the bronchial artery in these volunteers," said lead author and Penn State physiology graduate student Jin-Kwang Kim.

Nitrates, found  in leafy green vegetables such as spinach and beetroot, are converted naturally in the body to nitric oxide, a molecule that is known to  relax  and widen blood vessels and improve efficiency cells' use  of oxygen. A number of companies   liquefy beetroot and concentrate the nitrate into beetroot juice "shots."

Benefits of beetroots. Nutri Choice 4 U

 Many studies have pointed out indirect evidence of improved muscle oxygenation during exercise after consuming nitrate-rich drinks, such as beetroot juice,but none on the measurement of direct flow of blood  to the contracting muscles," Proctor said. "Our study was the first to directly test this possibility in humans."

The nitrite levels in the blood of the participants and the slowing of their' arterial pulsation velocity, an indication that the supplement did indeed have a biological (artery De-stiffening) effect.

The  null effects on muscle blood flow observed in this first study, it is pointed out, resulted from two factors."Subjects were young with normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and these subjects had well-preserved vascular endothelial function to begin with."

Journal Reference:

Jin-Kwang Kim, David J. Moore, David G. Maurer, Daniel B. Kim-Shapiro, Swati Basu, Michael P. Flanagan, Ann C. Skulas-Ray, Penny Kris-Etherton, David N. Proctor. Acute dietary nitrate supplementation does not augment sub maximal forearm exercise hyperemia in healthy young men. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 2014; 1 DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2014-0228