Does Beet Juice Really Increase Power Output?

The TLDR: 

• Beetroot juice supplementation increased nitrate and nitrite levels in a dose-dependent manner, but this did not translate into improved performance in resistance exercises like squats, bench press, or countermovement jumps.

• No dose of dietary nitrate (low, moderate, or high) enhanced resistance training performance in resistance-trained men compared to a placebo.

• Only the low-dose nitrate condition showed a significant correlation between increased blood nitrite and improved squat power and velocity, suggesting a possible narrow performance window that warrants further investigation.

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 Transcript here: Good morning, everyone. Dr. Wells here from St. Augustine Beach. Got my sidekick Jimmy here. Hey, say hi, Jimmy. Good boy. Anyhow, today's a good article we have based on the sports nutrition world. This one is looking at nitrate supplementation. Now, we in our three-part certificate series for nutritional physical therapy, we look at supplements, particularly beetroot supplementation or beet juice supplementation, particularly for the enhancement of power in an athlete. There is a 2023 study done by Michelle Tan, and they found that beets do increase the power output. This is actually a meta-analysis, so pretty good study. Funny enough, Rachel Tan's most recent article is a randomized double-blind crossover trial, and what she wanted to do is look at the different nitrate levels, so low being 6 millimoles, moderate being around 12, and then high being 24, seeing if there's a dose response with that. Can we give our athletes a small amount of beetroot juice? Will there be a small amount of power output benefit? Meanwhile, if we give them a high, do they get a high benefit? The protocol that they looked at is a little different than what was analyzed in their meta-analysis, and that's probably because when you look at a meta-analysis, you have to combine all these research articles, and to get it really kind of homogeneous, you have to make sure you're looking at the same sort of measurements. Well, they looked at a counter-movement jump. They looked at two sets of three back squat, two sets of three bench press, and then they had the athletes consume two and a half of their beetroot juice, and then two and a half hours later, they measured their performance. Surprisingly, there was no major changes except for peak power, mean power, and velocity, and that was between, believe it or not, the beetroot juice low and the placebo group, which was no beetroot juice. So surprisingly, there's some differences in the study outcomes. Why that is, I think there's a couple things. One, the protocol was different from an exercise standpoint. The second component is the population that's studied. There's distinct differences between the athletes that they used. They were resistance-trained athletes, but they may not have been power-specific athletes, and that makes a difference. So overall, the jury might be out based on this study, but their other meta-analysis did show a small improvement in power and those exact measurements. So at the end of the day, I do recommend beet juice or at least athletes eating beet, and I've noticed a difference in my own soccer performance that exercise with beet juice for power-based movements can be beneficial. So at the end of the day, it's small amount of calories, very little side effects because it is regulated as food, and overall, I don't mind the taste of beets, particularly when it's thrown in beet salad with some potatoes and pickles. So anyhow, I hope you like this study. If you like this and you want more, we have more sports nutrition, more research on orthopedics, and how nutrition impacts those areas of our practice in physical therapy and rehabilitation. Check out the link below for our courses, and hope you sign up today. Thanks.