There are very few legitimately effective workout supplements. Barring full-on performance enhancing drugs, there’s not much you can get over the counter and see instant, measurable, reliable results.
Beets qualify as one of those rare supplements.
Beets are one of the richest sources of nitrate, which when consumed orally increases nitric oxide production. Nitric oxide promotes vasodilation—the expansion of your blood vessels—thereby enhancing the flow of blood, oxygen, and nutrients throughout the body. Greater nitric oxide levels allow greater oxygenation, higher work capacity, and better physical performance.
According to human studies…
- Drinking beet juice improves energy efficiency during aerobic exercise, reducing the amount of oxygen required for a given intensity.
- Taking beet juice right before a morning workout eliminates the regular “morning slowdown” you often see in trained sprinters.
- Beet supplementation improves high-intensity interval training and explosive exercise performance—movements that require max effort and velocity like power weight training.
But beets aren’t just relevant for athletes. There’s also evidence that supplementing with or eating beets can improve other health markers for the population at large.
- Beets can reduce blood pressure in patients with hypertension, an effect that may be especially pronounced in older people.
- In heart failure patients, beet root consumption acutely improves muscle function. This can be a huge step toward recovery and maintaining basic daily function.
- Beetroot consumption helps heart rate variability (a marker of stress resistance) recover more quickly after exercise (a stressor).
How Much to Take
Most studies use a dose of beet that provides about 400-800 mg of nitrate.
The form doesn’t matter much. You can eat beets, drink beet juice, take beet extract, add beet powder to your water… They all work because the nitrates in beets are resistant to heat and processing.
- Beet powder supplements will provide the dosage of nitrate per serving, so you can adjust your intake accordingly.
- Beet juice runs about 800 mg nitrate per 140 ml.
- Beets themselves run about 100-200 mg nitrate per medium-sized beet. Since beets are natural foods with natural variation, the actual amount will differ between every beet you eat.
What’s important is getting beets in whatever form works best for you.
What about Oxalates?
Beets are a high-oxalate food, but if you're worried about oxalates, there are a few things you can do.
- Take magnesium alongside the beets. Magnesium helps bind to oxalic acid and reduces intestinal absorption of oxalate. You have to take it around the same time as the beets, so the two are in the gut together.
- Pickle or ferment your beets. Pickled beets have lower oxalate content. Beet kvass, a form of salty fermented beet juice, is one way to deal with the oxalate issue. It also offers sodium, which provides extra benefits for exercise.
- Just don’t worry. Most people aren’t ultra-sensitive to oxalates, and the studies on beetroot are quite uniformly positive.
I don’t take beets myself all that often, but if I were still competing in endurance events, I’d definitely take advantage of what they have to offer.
Let me know your thoughts on beets over on Instagram.
