3 Ways Beets Can Help Your Health Mix beets into salads, drink them in green juice, or make hummus out of them. These root vegetables can be used for more than just roasting, and once you discover how beneficial they are to your health, you won’t want to stop there.
According to Jenna Volpe, RDN, an Austin, Texas-based nutritionist, “there are quite a few reasons to include beets in your diet, from helping to reduce blood pressure and increase oxygen to providing a generous dose of antioxidants.”
1. According to Samantha Cassetty, RD, a New York City-based private practitioner, “beets have the impressive ability to widen blood vessels and enhance blood flow, which helps lower blood pressure.” Beetroot juice lowers blood pressure. She mentions that high blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attack and stroke, two of the leading causes of death.
According to a review published in the December 2018 issue of Biomolecules, the substance that causes beets to lower blood pressure is nitrates. Nitrates have the potential to lower blood pressure and significantly lower the risk of cardiovascular events. Beets, among other fruits and vegetables, naturally contain nitrates, but they are occasionally added to meat and cheese as food additives. While the nitrates found in plant-based food varieties are believed to be innocuous, and are the essential wellspring of nitrates in the commonplace eating routine, those from food added substances might be related with particular sorts of malignant growth, as per research distributed in Walk 2020 in Cell reinforcements.
2. Beets Are a Good Source of Gut-Friendly Fiber Dietary fiber is a key indicator of gut and overall health, but it’s often overlooked. According to Harvard Health Publishing, Americans consume 10 to 15 grams (g) of fiber per day, which is less than half of the 21 to 38 grams (g) recommended per day.
Cassetty explains, “Beets support a healthy gut microbiome,” which is the group of bacteria in your gut that helps control inflammation, immune function, mood, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. Dietary fiber can have a significant impact on the diversity and richness of the gut microbiome, which is one of the most complex ecosystems in the human body. According to a review that was published in Nutrients in May 2021, increasing your fiber intake allows gut bacteria to grow in numbers.
3. Beets may improve endurance and athletic performance. Before your next workout, you might want to drink beetroot juice instead of sports drinks. According to a review that was published in Frontiers in Nutrition in May 2021, adding nitrates to beetroot juice can improve resistance training performance and increase workout intensity.
According to Cassetty, “nitrates in beetroot juice increase blood flow and allow more oxygen to get to your muscles, which may increase endurance and allow you to exercise for longer.” Beetroot juice can prompt athletic execution benefits like arriving at a specific distance quicker and recuperating significantly quicker.”
