The three best benefits of beets

Beets are often underrated and overlooked, but the benefits of beets should not be ignored. Here are three benefits of eating more beets.

Heart Health

Beets are a great source of dietary nitrates which we convert to nitric oxide. We produce nitric oxide in almost every type of cell in our body. It is one of the most important molecules for blood vessel health. Nitric oxide is a vasodilator, it relaxes the inner muscles of your blood vessels, causing the vessels to widen and relax. Because of this action nitric oxide increases blood flow and lowers blood pressure.

Activation of our sympathetic nervous system increases heart rate, and blood pressure while constricting blood vessels. This also happens with some types of cardiovascular diseases, including high blood pressure.

Researchers found that sympathetic nerve activity decreases after drinking beet juice and during exercise. Beneficial for our heart and our blood pressure.

Athletic Performance

Dietary nitrate improves endurance and high-intensity exercise, and now researchers have found that it also increases muscular force production.

In a recent study from the University of Exeter, researchers had participants perform 60 contractions of the quadriceps at maximum intensity over five minutes on an exercise machine an hour after consuming dietary nitrates. During the exercises, the nitrate boost improved muscle force production by seven percent, compared to when the participants who had the placebo.

A Canadian study showed “acute nitrate supplementation using beetroot juice can decrease muscle sympathetic outflow at rest and during exercise.”

“This study provides evidence that muscle nitrate levels are important for exercise performance, presumably by acting as a source of nitric oxide,” said Dr. Barbora Piknova, researcher and staff scientist at the National Institutes of Health.

Anti-inflammatory

Beets contain a pigment called betalains, which has anti-inflammatory properties.

A small study found that people consuming a cup of beet juice for two weeks reduced markers of inflammation including C-reactive protein.

A study from 2014 found that in people with osteoarthritis beetroot extract reduced pain and discomfort.

Inflammation is linked to several diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart disease and beets help reduce inflammation because of betalains.

Better health with beets

There are many great ways to add more beets to your diet, including this Quick and Easy Beet Bowl. For the best benefits of beets with food, not supplements.

Organic beets cost around $4.00 / lb. One cup has less than 60 calories, is almost 90% water with 3 grams of fibre and almost no fat. They also are good sources of folate, manganese, potassium, iron and vitamin C.

Change your mind, change your health,

Shayla