I don’t want to give away all of my secrets, but Beetroot Juice is all the rage at the moment in the sports world.<\/p>\n
The very high levels of nitrates in beetroot juice are thought to dilate capillaries in the body allowing blood flow to the muscles to be increased. In addition, the high levels of nitrates in the blood reduces the rate of utilisation of\u00a0adenosine\u00a0triphosphate (ATP), the most immediate source of energy for muscles. These two facts combined enable muscles to work much more efficiently when an athlete has been drinking beetroot juice.<\/p>\n
A study conducted at the University of Exeter and published in May 2010 in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that drinking
\nbeetroot juice reduces the energy expended by muscles.\u00a0This research and a previous study (also published in the Journal of Applied Physiology), \u00a0showed \u00a0that drinking beetroot juice can boost stamina, allowing an individual to exercise for up to 16% longer.\u00a0Studies have also shown that the high levels of nitrates in beetroot juice can help to significantly lower blood pressure.<\/p>\n
These findings are far too good to ignore for athletes looking to get the best out of their bodies, and too good to ignore for me as well, so I thought I’d give it a go and started drinking Beet-It beetroot juice<\/a> a few weeks before my World Championship Qualifying race<\/a>. As far as I could see, beetroot juice is a natural, organic vegetable juice so drinking a small amount each day was no different to eating an apple each day or having a glass of orange juice each day. It didn’t seem as though it could do any harm so I may as well give it a go.<\/p>\n Now, as an individual it is difficult to tell if it had any positive effects on my performance. In order to test such things properly you need to carry out a large study with numerous individuals all following a carefully\u00a0controlled set of tests and compare them against a similar sized set of individuals doing similar tests whilst on a placebo drink. For me as in individual it’s impossible to tell what effect it had. As well as drinking beetroot juice I was doing many other things that should have improved my athletic performance.<\/p>\nBeetroot Juice the Pros<\/h2>\n
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Beetroot Juice the Cons<\/h2>\n
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