Drinks
Ever heard of beetroot juice ? Beetroot , I get it, but beetroot juice ?? Well if you like beetroots in your dish , then you should surely try a glass of beetroot juice the next time you’re having your meal. This bloody bright-reddish kinda looking vegetable is now gaining popularity due to the number of benefits it can provide in terms of your health.
A glass of beetroot juice can help provide you with all the vitamins and minerals in a liquidized form. If you feel that the mixture is really thick, try adding a little bit of water to balance the consistency.
Beetroot Nutritional Value
According to the USDA , 100 grams of beetroot contains about 43 calories with around 0.2 grams of fat. Other values include 325 grams of potassium, 78 grams of sodium, 1.6 grams of protein and 10 grams of overall carbohydrates.
Beetroot Juice can increase Stamina !!
Beetroot Juice can increase Stamina !!
Researchers have found that, beetroot juice can help boost your stamina and even help you exercise for up to 16% longer. The key was the nitrate element in the beetroot juice that led to a reduction in oxygen uptake which eventually made doing exercises, less tiring.
Studies revealed that Drinking beetroot juice reduced oxygen uptake to an extent that couldn’t be achieved by any other means, including training.
An experiment was carried out which involved 8 participants aged between 19 and 38. The men were given 500ml per day of organic beetroot juice for 6 consecutive days before completing a series of tests involving cycling on an exercise bike. For a second test, they were given a placebo of blackcurrant cordial for 6 consecutive days before completing the same cycling exercises. The results showed -
• The beetroot juice consumption helped the participants to cycle for an average of 11.25 minutes, ie. 92 seconds longer than the effect they had after consuming the placebo drink.
• Drinking beetroot juice also reduced the participant's lower resting blood pressure.
Not sure regarding what made beetroot juice consumption increase the stamina of the participants, researchers have come up with a theory stating that it could be the nitrate turning nitric oxide into the body , thus decreasing the oxygen cost of exercise.
The study was carried out by Professor Andy Jones of the University of Exeter’s School of Sport and Health Sciences.
Beetroot juice can help lower High Blood pressure !!
Beetroot juice can help lower High Blood pressure !!
Researchers have discovered that drinking 500 ml of beetroot juice daily can significantly decrease blood pressure. In their study it was found that, the ingestion of dietary nitrate content within beetroot juice just like the ones found in green, leafy vegetables was directly linked with decreased blood pressure.
After a study was conducted with participants who consumed beetroot juice, the following results were established -
• In healthy individuals, blood pressure was reduced within 1 hour of ingesting beetroot juice.
• A peak drop occurred after three to four hours after ingesting the beetroot juice.
• Certain degree of reduction continued to be observed even 24 hours later after the juice was ingested.
According to researchers, the effect can be attributed to the chemical formation of nitrite from the dietary nitrite in the juice. The nitrate in the juice is converted in saliva, by bacteria present on the tongue, into nitrite. When the nitrite containing saliva is swallowed, the acidic environment of the stomach is either converted into nitric oxide or re-enters the circulation as nitrite. The peak time of reduction in blood pressure was connected with the presence and high levels of nitrite in the circulation which was absent in a second group of individuals who refrained from swallowing their saliva during and for 3 hours following beetroot ingestion..
Hypertension caused around 50 % of coronary heart disease and approximately 75 % of strokes. However with the cardio protective benefits that beetroot juice has to provide, this may be a low cost approach for treating cardiovascular diseases, a condition that is responsible for the deaths of over 110,000 people in England alone each year.
Researchers conclude that by drinking beetroot juice or consuming other nitrate rich vegetables, might be a simple remedy to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system while simultaneously maintaining a steady or normal blood pressure.
The study was a carried out by Professor Amrita Ahluwalia of the William Harvey Research Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine, and Professor Ben Benjamin of Peninsula Medical School.
Beetroot juice may help patients with heart disease !!
Beetroot juice may help patients with heart disease !!
According to a new study the nitrate compound found in beetroot juice, dilates vessels to decrease blood pressure can reduce over stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system that usually occurs with a heart disease. Activation of the sympathetic nervous system was caused by incraesed sympathetic nerve activity which included -
• elevated heart rate and blod pressure
• Blood vessel constriction
Sympathetic nerve activity in some case cases could also happen with increase is some forms of cardiovascular diseases including -
• High blood pressure
• Heart failure
A study was carried out using 20 individuals who were around 27 years of age and were given a nitrate rich beetroot juice or placebo . The research team then recorded various vital signs of the patients to determine whether the nitrate had any effect on their bodies. They found the following results -
• The frequency of nerve activity was lower when they drank the beetroot juice compared to when they had the placebo.
• Sympathetic nerve activity also decreased during exercise.
The study was carried out by a team of researchers and was later published ahead of print in the American Journal of Physiology- heart and circulatory Physiology.
Beetroot juice could help people live more active lives !!
Beetroot juice could help people live more active lives !!
A new research concerning the health benefits of beetroot juice suggests that, it isn't just the athletes or exercise do-ers who can benefit from the consumption of this juice but the juice can also help improve physiological effects in elderly people or even people with heart or lung conditions, who can enjoy more active lives.
This time researchers looked at low intensity exercises and found that the individuals used less oxygen while walking, effectively lowering the effort it took to walk by 12 %. But as people got older or were experiencing conditions which affected their cardiovascular system, the amount of oxygen needed for such an exercise drops considerably. This effect alone could stop people from performing routinely tasks on a regular basis.
However by drinking beetroot juice, it can actually reduce the amount of oxygen required to perform low intensity exercises, which could help people do things they otherwise found it difficult to do. Consuming beetroot juice had two marked physiological effects.
• It widened blood vessels, reducing blood pressure and allowing more blood flow.
• It affected muscle tissue, reducing the amount of oxygen needed by muscles during activity
The combined effects have a significant impact on performing physical tasks, regardless of whether it involved low intensity or high intensity effort. As mentioned previously, it is the nitrate content in beetroot juice which served as the key ingredient to cause increase in performance rather than any other component of the juice.
The study was carried out by Katie Lansley, a PhD student from the University’s Health Sciences department, Professor Andy Jones and a group of researchers from the University of Exeter.