Beetroot Juice-anyone use it?

MrCreosote

Was reading about a small study that suggested drinking beetroot juice might improve oxygen consumption during exercise. Apparently there are more studies in progress hoping to confirm/refute this.

Anybody have any stories about taking performance to the next level after a few glasses of sweet chilled Beetroot juice?

And if it does work- how long before it's banned??

menoscemo

I was at a nutrition lecture just before DCM last year by this guy and he was swearing by it. He is an ultra/fell runner and triathlete and takes a shot of beetroot juice just before every endurance race. I haven't actually goten around to looking for the stuff myself.

gerard65

Yep, tried it, did'nt notice any big improvement as claimed, but your meant to drink alot of it, a pint a day, which could prove expensive, as its nearly €5 for a 750ml bottle. It also turns your pee red/pink:eek:.

Aimman

gerard65 wrote: »

Yep, tried it, did'nt notice any big improvement as claimed, but your meant to drink alot of it, a pint a day, which could prove expensive, as its nearly €5 for a 750ml bottle. It also turns your pee red/pink:eek:.

Could cause a lot of unwanted attention at the urinals alright.

menoscemo

gerard65 wrote: »

Yep, tried it, did'nt notice any big improvement as claimed, but your meant to drink alot of it, a pint a day, which could prove expensive, as its nearly €5 for a 750ml bottle. It also turns your pee red/pink:eek:.

The fella who told me about it, says you can buy a very concentrated version of it in some health food shops and Only have to take a shot of it on the morning of a race.

gerard65

menoscemo wrote: »

The fella who told me about it, says you can buy a very concentrated version of it in some health food shops and Only have to take a shot of it on the morning of a race.

I got it in Holland&Barrett. Don't know anything about the concentrated stuff.
I think the problem is that beetroots arn't very juicey, so you need to juice a hell of amount to get any decent quantity. It also stains, so you really need a dedicated juicer.
You can buy beetroots and boil them, very nice, cheaper option.
It was an item on 'The One Show' which claimed you need to drink a pint a day, the benefit was shown in a test after about 4 days.
The pee staining will frighten the life out of you first time, and not much good if your depending on the colour of your pee to know if your properly hydrated.

TFBubendorfer

Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Wheat Grass, Cordyceps, Echinacea, Beetroot Juice and at least a dozen other miracle substances that have been mentioned in recent years, and all of them had at least one study supporting their claim.

Try them all if you like. But if they only claim "to boost your oxygen consumption", that should get your alarm bells ringing straight away. Testing one isolated biological variable is an old trick to make your study look good. It does not mean that you will run faster.

In the end, racing better will come down to training, not to the latest fad product you're taking.

Krusty_Clown

Interesting further thoughts on the subject of beetroot juice and endurance performance: here. Suggests a 1%-3% improvement in performance. Obviously should be taken with a pinch of salt (and some apple juice ).

TFBubendorfer

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Interesting further thoughts on the subject of beetroot juice and endurance performance: here. Suggests a 1%-3% improvement in performance. Obviously should be taken with a pinch of salt (and some apple juice ).

You know what? I'm sold. Not because of the alleged performance boost, but the red, staining pee. That's just the thing.

Krusty_Clown

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

You know what? I'm sold. Not because of the alleged performance boost, but the red, staining pee. That's just the thing.

Think of it this way doubting Thomas, a juice made from beetroot is unlikely to do you a significant amount of harm. If nothing else, you're getting some of your 5-a-day. Indicentally, I've been drinking Pomegranate and Beetroot juice occasionally for a couple of years. Not because I knew of any endurance benefits, but because I liked the taste. Sadly, it doesn't turn your pee pink.

Donelson

I've tried, I did think it made a difference, may just have been a placebo effect, I used to just buy the vacuum packed beats and blend the crap out of them. You get a drinkable slush.

TFBubendorfer

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Sadly, it doesn't turn your pee pink.

It's no good, then.
:rolleyes:

By all means, lads, try it. As Krusty said, it won't do any harm and it's one of your 5-a-day.

Btw, did you know that the 5-a-day should be 9-a-day from a nutritional point of view but the (British, but it was copied over here and elsewhere) government decided that would be too ambitious for most people and settled on 5-a-day instead purely because it's much more achievable?

Slogger Jogger

Championseverywhere have it. I think the product is called Beet. Haven't tried it but have tried their other product Orbana, a powder to mix up with water for sport hydration and I have found that pretty good.

Slogger Jogger

Article here: http://www.championseverywhere.com/beetitoverview