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Favorite beetroot juice?
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Hi all,

I have a student that I have tasked with measuring the nitrate (and nitrite) content of a number of beetroot juice products (ideally a dozen or more). We're specifically looking for ones that are 1) marketed to athletes/as enhancing athletic performance, and 2) do not contain other ingredients (e.g., arginine) aimed at increasing nitric oxide production. Here is what we have acquired so far:

Beet It! (regular juice)
Beet It! Sport ("platinum" concentrate)
Red Rush
Red Ace
Beet-Power
Beet Elite
Beet Performer
Knudson organic beet juice
Biotta organic beet juice

I would appreciate any additional suggestions, especially if you can tell me how to lay my hands on the product.

Thanks!

P.S. If anybody wants to buy the leftovers, I have a fair bit of stuff to unload.
Last edited by: Andrew Coggan: Oct 12, 17 17:56
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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I just eat roasted beets.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond wrote:
I just eat roasted beets.

Organic, or conventionally grown?

(The nitrate content of beets and other vegetables can vary significantly, depending on growing conditions.)
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Looks like you've covered all the options I've seen.

Do you plan to share the results?
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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I normally use Beet Elite, but for everyday smoothies, I use Herbal Island Organic Beet Root Powder.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Does this stuff actually work? And is it disgusting like real beets? :D
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Costco sells Fresh on Demand Organic Beet Juice Powder. If it wasn't $70 I'd probably have that for smoothies.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [ridenfish39] [ In reply to ]
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Real beets are only disgusting if you are a kid.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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I just juice the beets and drink up. I would be interested in seeing some data for time since juicing, as I have heard there is fast nutritional decay with juicing. I also have no idea if organic offers any nutritional benefit.
Last edited by: AverageDave: Oct 13, 17 6:54
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [ridenfish39] [ In reply to ]
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Yes and yes :)

Although I grew to like the taste after a little while.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [len] [ In reply to ]
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lol

x2
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [AverageDave] [ In reply to ]
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The ergogenic effects are directly related to the levels of nitrates present. Time-since-juicing shouldn't be a significant issue on realistic time-frames (i.e. hours are probably fine, days may start to be noticeable) but cooking for example has a major deleterious effect.

Similarly, organically-grown beets generally have much lower levels of nitrates due to the lack of use nitrate-rich fertilisers, thus for performance-enhancing purposes, non-organic beets are considered better; although as AC mentions above, this can vary drastically depending on farming methods so YMMV.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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I grabbed Salus red beet crystals at a grocery store and use them in a pinch one time. I've also seen them on Amazon. I'd be interested to see how the nutritional properties change in crystal form, it is probably my favorite way to consume beets.

Powertap / Cycleops / Saris
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [len] [ In reply to ]
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len wrote:
Real beets are only disgusting if you are a kid.
I’m 44 but I still act like a kid, so I guess that counts
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [ In reply to ]
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Addressing a few things that came up:

1) Yes, when the project is complete the goal is to publish the results somewhere. I expect that every company will hate us except the one that comes out on top. :)

2) Yes, dietary nitrate does "work", at least in most people (about 25% seem to be low responders...something we're looking into).

3) Nitrate is actually a very hardy little molecule. For example, you can boil it in water for 24 h, or use beet juice/powder to make baked goods, and there will be no change.

4) Although there are lots of beet root powders on the market, we've been avoiding them because it is more difficult to define the recommended "dose", and thus compare different products.

Please, keep the suggestions coming! This is hardly earth-shattering research, but at the same time, I think people will find the results really interesting.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [awenborn] [ In reply to ]
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Interesting. Will stick to non-organic beets.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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You should feed some keto athletes some nitrate bacon and see how they do. :-)

It's fat and nitrates from celery, essentially. They use nitrates from celery juice instead of nitrites in the bacon to make it seem more "consumer friendly".

A silly comment,I know, but I don't even know if the nitrates in bacon are the same thing.

Carry on with the meaningful work! I'll be interested in results.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [ridenfish39] [ In reply to ]
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I am just trying to be funny. It is funny that a lot of foods I hated as a kid I like now. Brussel sprouts and beets for instance. Still don't understand kale though. It is disgusting never understood how it got to be hip.

They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [len] [ In reply to ]
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I was too :). And same for me. I never liked broccoli or a lot of other veggies when I was a kid but I love them now. Except beets. And Kale is awful too. :).
If any of these supplements actually offer some kind of performance advantage without me hurling after I drink it then I’m willing to give them a go. As a tter I’m always after that last .001%
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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I buy whichever beets are on sale at the grocery store.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [burnthesheep] [ In reply to ]
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It's actually nitrate and nitrite (singular), and yes, the same chemical that is added to cured meats to help preserve the red color and inhibit bacterial growth. Unlike with cured meats, though, nitrate and nitrite in vegetables (by far the largest dietary source) doesn't seem to be associated with increased cancer risk.
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [ridenfish39] [ In reply to ]
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ridenfish39 wrote:
Does this stuff actually work? And is it disgusting like real beets? :D

I like the taste of beets, but the juice is pretty awful. I only clicked on the thread because of the irony of the word "favourite" when asking about beetroot juice.

I participated in a cycling study around the benefits of nitrates found in beetroot juice. IIRC, we drank the concentrated shots from beet-it. One round we drank daily shots that contained nitrates, and in the other round we drank the shots with the nitrates removed. We weren't told what version we we drinking (or even that one lacked nitrates), but I could easily taste a difference and later came to understand that the nitrates makes everything taste like dirt. ...And I mean literally, like dirt.

Turns out that on average, we had a 1s/km gain/benefit in a time trial like cycling session when drinking the nitrates than without. While the benefit seems small, do keep in mind that the latest and greatest aero fad usually clams a benefit of around 40s over 40k, (or 1s/km).

There are more than a few other studies that indicate similar outcomes
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [beston] [ In reply to ]
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Hello beston and All,

If nitrates and nitrites work (and it appears they do) as a performance enhancer ...... will not WADA and USADA soon prohibit (or create acceptable levels) them and test for those levels?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...articles/PMC2909922/

Excerpts:

Phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitors, dominated by Viagra®, ranked 16th among the substance groups. The proportion of the inquiries made regarding PDE-5 inhibitors, especially in comparison to antibiotics, painkillers or alcohol, appears to be above the level that would normally be expected from medical need. No significant change in the months leading up to the Beijing Olympics was observed. On the contrary, the Nitric/Nitrate group showed a notable increase between 2006-2007 and 2008, suggesting a potential increase in interest in using nitric oxide among athletes.

"With patents recently filed for the use of agents containing sodium nitrite/nitrate to enhance blood flow for performance enhancement in sport, coupled with anecdotal evidence from internet athlete forums and media, there is a concern that athletes may endanger their health by using vasodilators to enhance athletic performance.

PDE-5 inhibitors or chemicals in the nitrate/nitrate group are currently not prohibited or tested for by the doping control agencies but some are highly dangerous to health and can lead to cardiovascular collapse, coma and death. Its promotion among athletes as a performance enhancing supplement is ethically and medically questionable."





beston wrote:
ridenfish39 wrote:
Does this stuff actually work? And is it disgusting like real beets? :D


I like the taste of beets, but the juice is pretty awful. I only clicked on the thread because of the irony of the word "favourite" when asking about beetroot juice.

I participated in a cycling study around the benefits of nitrates found in beetroot juice. IIRC, we drank the concentrated shots from beet-it. One round we drank daily shots that contained nitrates, and in the other round we drank the shots with the nitrates removed. We weren't told what version we we drinking (or even that one lacked nitrates), but I could easily taste a difference and later came to understand that the nitrates makes everything taste like dirt. ...And I mean literally, like dirt.

Turns out that on average, we had a 1s/km gain/benefit in a time trial like cycling session when drinking the nitrates than without. While the benefit seems small, do keep in mind that the latest and greatest aero fad usually clams a benefit of around 40s over 40k, (or 1s/km).

There are more than a few other studies that indicate similar outcomes

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [nealhe] [ In reply to ]
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You should look into the effects of caffein!
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Re: Favorite beetroot juice? [Andrew Coggan] [ In reply to ]
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Hello Andrew Coggan and All,

These studies agree with you: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/...articles/PMC4690057/

"In summary, this meta-analysis suggested that dietary nitrates intake was associated with a reduced risk of gastric cancer, and high consumption of nitrites and NDMA could increase the risk. [empahsis added]

Considering the limitations and confounding factors, we could not absolutely confirm the reliability of these findings. More well-designed large prospective studies are needed to help us understand these substances in the etiology of gastric cancer."


https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26633477


"High nitrates intake was associated with a weak but statistically significant reduced risk of gastric cancer. Whereas increased consumption of nitrites and NDMA seemed to be risk factors for cancer. [emphasis added]

Due to the lack of uniformity for exposure assessment across studies, further prospective researches are warranted to verify these findings."

My grandfather and an uncle both died of stomach cancer. They both ate lots of processed meat. So I am going on my 'gut feeling' and stay away from nitrites and be very cautious about nitrates.


I am curious about what the difference is between the nitrates and nitrites in vegetables ....... and nitrates and nitrites found in meats ... and the associated cancer risks.


Are potassium nitrate capsules more similar to vegetable nitrates or to meat nitrates?





Andrew Coggan wrote:
It's actually nitrate and nitrite (singular), and yes, the same chemical that is added to cured meats to help preserve the red color and inhibit bacterial growth. Unlike with cured meats, though, nitrate and nitrite in vegetables (by far the largest dietary source) doesn't seem to be associated with increased cancer risk.


Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster
Last edited by: nealhe: Oct 13, 17 18:29
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