Could Beet Juice Give Your Workout a Boost?

You Should Know: The latest performance drink is blood-red and might taste a little like dirt. A growing body of evidence indicates beet juice is more than just a trendy beverage: Drinking it before exercising could improve your workout and support recovery. 

Going Deeper: Beets are packed with a potent combination of antioxidants and nitrate — a naturally occurring chemical in some foods that converts to nitric oxide when eaten. Nitric oxide helps widen blood vessels and improve blood flow and oxygen delivery to working muscles, and it may also help with lung function. It also strengthens contractions to power explosive movements like sprinting or jumping in fast-twitch muscles. 

Takeaway: Research suggests nitrate can help you sustain effort for longer by improving endurance and power, although results vary by type of exercise — recent research suggests small improvements in VO2 max, while benefits for muscular strength have been less consistent. Studies have been conducted with concentrated 70-ml shots to 500 mL of beet juice. The most benefit comes from drinking it about two to three hours before a workout. 

Bottom Line: Beet juice is not a magic potion that will turn you into an Olympic-caliber athlete on its own, but it could give you a boost in the stamina and energy departments.