Beetroot boosts oxygen uptake in study done on womenBeetroot boosts oxygen uptake in study done on women

A new study has shown that beetroot juice boosts maximum oxygen uptake by almost 5% for female endurance athletes. One of the goals was to redress the gender imbalance in sports nutrition research.

January 23, 2025

3 Min Read
A new study has shown an improvement in VO2max for women using beetroot juice.

At a Glance

  • Beetroot juice has been shown to boost exercise performance.
  • Most of the studies have been done on men.
  • A study has been done on women in a stated attempt to redress that gender imbalance in reserach.

A new study done in Latvia showed that a single dose of nitrate-rich beetroot juice boosted maximum oxygen uptake by almost 5% in a cadre of female endurance athletes. 

The new study was published in the journal Nutrients and was the work of a group of researchers associated with a university and research institute in Riga. 

Beetroot juice is one of the richest dietary sources of nitrate, which converts to nitric oxide (NO) in the body.  Higher NO levels have been linked to lower blood pressure, improved blood flow and improvements in the body’s maximum uptake of oxygen (VO2max). 

Study used in-house standardized beetroot juice 

The research on these effects is still evolving. A complicating factor has been the wide variability of available beetroot products. Some brands in the marketplace that have been studied in recent research have reliable testing programs for nitrate content and transparency about reporting results; others don’t. 

To sidestep that issue, the Latvian researchers decided to manufacture their own beetroot juice product in partnership with a research institute in Riga. The product delivered 6.2 nmol (nanomoles per liter) of nitrates per serving. The research institute also made a beetroot juice placebo that removed nearly all of the nitrates. 

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Much of the research on beetroot juice, like sports nutrition research in general, has focused on men. The Latvian researchers sought to help redress that imbalance with the current study, which focused on healthy young women.  

Redressing the gender imbalance in research 

The researchers recruited 21 healthy younger women (ages 18 to 42) who were regularly participating in running, cycling or swimming and who were exercising at least three to five times a week for at least 30 minutes per session at a minimum level of 65% of their maximum heart rates. Warm-up and cool-down periods during their sessions were not included in those minimum training durations. 

The researchers designed a blinded, placebo-controlled trial to test how a single, acute dosage of beetroot juice would affect various sports nutrition measures in a so-called cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). This is the type of test performed on a cycling ergometer in which the participant wears a ventilator, and their gas exchange is measured. 

The researchers used a VO2max measurement, two measures of respiratory efficiency and a heart rate reading to gauge the effect of the beetroot juice. 

The participants were required to adhere to a dietary protocol to ensure they were not getting extra nitrates in their diets. They were required to fast for at least three hours before the cycling ergometer tests. 

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Two tests were performed: one baseline test and another a week later in which the participants ingested either the beetroot juice or the placebo 2.5 hours before the 12-minute test began. 

Researchers found striking improvement in VO2max 

The most striking result of the test was an almost 5% increase in VO2max for the beetroot group over placebo. The ventilatory efficiency measures improved in the beetroot juice group too, but not by as large a margin.  They also had lower heart rates than the placebo group. 

“These findings indicate that beetroot juice consumption can reduce fatigue during prolonged exercise by improving oxygen utilization and energy efficiency, which are critical for endurance sports performance,” the authors concluded. 

The results, while promising, need to be bolstered with further research so that female athletes could derive maximum benefit in the future, the researchers cautioned. Among the questions to be answered is how longer-term beetroot juice supplementation would interact with a woman’s monthly cycles. 

“Although the results of this study are promising, they also highlight the need for further research focusing on long-term supplementation effects, optimal dosing strategies, and the influence of hormonal phases during the menstrual cycle,” the authors concluded. “This is critical to ensure that women are adequately represented in sports nutrition research and that their unique physiological and hormonal needs are addressed.” 

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