Beetroot - What's an effective dosage?
 

So if you're taking beetroot for its reported performance benefits, how much should you take to be effective?

If you look at the labels on the products, it doesn't help, because the thing you need to know (how much NO3 there is) is not listed on the label.

Well fortunately, there's a study for that (with a familiar name as the co-author!). The recommended minimum dosage is 5 mmol of NO3, and the study lists the amount of NO3 in a bunch of commercial products.

The verdict: for most of the products, the listed serving size doesn't come close to the recommended 5 mmol of NO3!

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0166bfb7b8.png

One of the worst performers is Superbeets powder. Their "one scoop per day" is about 20% the recommended NO3 dosage.

The best performer is boring old beet juice. A 16 ounce bottle of Lakewood Organic has 3.8 times the recommended dosage. A 32 ounce bottle is $7.99 at Safeway -- a pretty good deal.

I just ordered some Lakewood Organic -- hope it doesn't tase terrible.

Ref: Gallardo & Coggan, What Is in Your Beet Juice? Nitrate and Nitrite Content of Beet Juice Products Marketed to Athletes, 2021

how about just regular old beets. well not old, i get them from my garden. this year's crop has already been visited by some cute little bunnies. (damn bunnies)

Well, assuming the "standard" dosage of 4 ounces of beet juice, I asked ChatGPT how many beets it takes to may 4 ounces:



So to get the same performance boost, you can drink 4 ounces of beet juice, or eat 2-3 beets.

yeah, that's a lot of beets.

on another note...was just reading this linked from drudge:
https://studyfinds.org/ai-making-ame...ything-online/

I put 1/2 a can of cooked beets into the protein smoothie along with frozen blueberries.

If you are prone to kidney stones, it would be advisable to limit beet root/juice since it carries high oxalate levels.

I tried using beet root powder (the recommended amount) from a leading brand. Prior to using it, never had an issue with kidney stones. After two excruciatingly painful episodes, I gave it up after further reading about oxalates and have not had a reoccurrence.

Or one could just take a gram of sodium nitrate once a day, like I've done for many years.

How do you take it? Capsule, dissolved in water, etc?

I use Super Beets in my pre-training cocktail (which has other ingredients as well), eat beets every day at lunch and romaine lettuce at dinner.

Have at the beet juice out of the bottle. I have not tried it and it is not part of my program.

Most dietary biases to increase performance need to be consistent and take time to become effective. This is called the loading period. Then the bias has to be sustained and consistent - no deviations. Finally, there has to be feedback that the bias is actually working via blood or body composition changes and performance.

Dissolved in water. I buy it from Amazon: Amazon.com: Duda Energy 1sn 1 lb. Sodium Nitrate 99+% Pure Chile Saltpeter Gold Metal Refining Industrial Grade Glass Pottery Enamels : Arts, Crafts & Sewing
I've been using it for many years, seems to work. Doesn't drop my blood pressure by much, but some and seems to have positive effects when going hard. Super cheap, too. Maybe 12mmol NO3 per serving? Chem was a long time ago. My sources say don't take more than that one gram/day.

As I am writing this, I am eating my lunch beets and real chicken breast.

I did a number of searches on sodium nitrate supplements including comparing sodium nitrate supplements to sodium nitrate preservatives in processed food - both appear to be the same except the capsules are sold for human consumption as a supplement and provide more sodium nitrate than found in processed meat where nitrates are added as a preservative.

Nitrates or nitrites in meat are considered bad for one's health...or are they?? I have a package of turkey in my fridge that claims no hormones, nitrates, nitrites and 99% fat free in large bold letters on the package. This stuff must be really healthy???

Here is an interesting article discussing nitrates and nitrates and health. Hmm. I am sticking with my diet of real beets and veggies that contain nitrates and super beets. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7139399/

OTOH:
Effects of sodium nitrite supplementation on vascular function and related small metabolite signatures in middle-aged and older adults - PMC
Nitrate supplementation and human exercise performance: too much of a good thing? - PubMed
Etc., many similar links.

Although I should emphasize that I eat organic foods as much as possible, never eat meat, and would certainly never eat chemically preserved meats. Dosage is critical, 1 gram/day being the absolute limit and who knows how much crap is in preserved foods. Yuckers.

Often these days, meats like sausage saying "No nitrates/nitrites!" have an * with a footnote in tiny letters, "* Other than that present in celery juice". They add celery juice as a preservative, can't even taste it.

I find it interesting that the actual beet juice came-out on top. I thought that perhaps the pasteurization process would've ruined any nutritional benefits of the juice, but I guess not. Now if we could only invent an oxalate-free beet...