É a beterraba...! Bebam o seu sumo!

Pounding the streets for hours every day in preparation for a marathon? Sit down and drink some beetroot juice instead.

Drinking a glass of beetroot juice has been found to boost stamina, allowing people to endure strenuous physical exercise for longer.

Research shows that the nitrate in beetroot juice leads to a reduction in oxygen uptake, slowing the rate at which a person becomes exhausted. Those drinking the juice can exercise for 16 per cent longer.

The scientists behind the study said that the reduction in oxygen use was greater than that achieved by any other known means, including training. The findings could be of interest to endurance athletes, elderly people or those with cardiovascular, respiratory or metabolic diseases, they added.
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But there is a side-effect, albeit harmless. Drinking beetroot juice can lead to Beeturia, when urine turns pink or red because of acidity levels in the stomach.

The research team, led by the University of Exeter, conducted the study with eight men aged 19 to 38. They were given 500ml a day of organic beetroot juice for six consecutive days before completing a series of tests, involving cycling on an exercise bike. On another occasion, they were given a placebo of blackcurrant cordial for six consecutive days before completing the same cycling tests. After drinking beetroot juice the group was able to cycle for an average of 11 minutes, 25 seconds — 92 seconds longer than when using the placebo. This translates into a 2 per cent reduction in the time taken to cover a set distance. The group that consumed the beetroot juice also had lower resting blood pressure.

The researchers are not sure of the mechanism that causes the nitrate in the beetroot juice to boost stamina. However, they suspect that it could be a result of the nitrate turning into nitric oxide in the body, reducing the oxygen cost of exercise. Nitrate is high in other foods, such as lettuce, but can be introduced in larger quantities because beetroot can be juiced, the researchers said.

The study comes after research by Barts and the London School of Medicine and the Peninsula Medical School, published last year, which found that beetroot juice reduced blood pressure. The researchers found that in healthy volunteers, blood pressure was reduced within an hour of drinking beetroot juice.

The latest research was carried out by the University of Exeter and Peninsula Medical School and published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. The team hopes to conduct further studies to try to understand in more detail the effects of nitrate-rich foods on exercise physiology.

Professor Andy Jones, lead researcher from the University of Exeter’s School of Sport and Health Sciences, said the work showed that nitrate-rich food could increase endurance.

“We were amazed by the effects of beetroot juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training,” he said. “I am sure professional and amateur athletes will be interested in the results.”

Experts welcomed the findings but cautioned that both studies to date had been small and called for trials on a larger scale, including research into long-term benefits or potentially harmful effects.

Superfoods

Pomegranate Revered in ancient times as a source of regeneration, a study in 2005 found it reduced harmful
cholesterol in mice
Garlic A study in 1999 found that eating half a raw clove a day may help to prevent cancer
Apple Research in the late 1990s discovered the fruit to be a useful food for preventing osteoporosis
Source: Times database