Whether you like your beetroot raw, cooked, juiced, preserved in vinegar or infused with subtle flavours such as Juniper and Black Pepper, it’s the ideal vegetable to keep your blood pressure on track.
Beetroot is a rich source of antioxidants, as well as being loaded in betaine, which are critical nutrients for lowering homocysteine. It actually boosts mitochondria, the energy powerhouses of all cells. The benefit from beetroot comes from the kind of nitrate it contains which the body converts to nitric oxide – well known for its role in relaxing blood vessels. Viagra, for example, promotes nitric oxide so there’s good reason to think that eating beetroot might give your sex life a lift! Recent research has found that when healthy volunteers ate a hefty serving of beetroot, their mitochondria worked much more efficiently, producing more of the energy-carrying molecule, ATP, and using up less oxygen. These are the cellular hallmarks of increasing energy.
Beetroot clearly lowers blood pressure, which is one of the main roles of nitric oxide. In a recent study at the University of Reading, UK, a shot of beetroot juice equivalent to 100 grams of beetroot (roughly two small beets) lowered blood pressure, and increased nitric oxide, in people with normal blood pressure within 24 hours. This was confirmed by another study at Barts medical School in London. The reason for this blood pressure- lowering effect is that beetroot is exceptionally high in nitrates. These studies have shown that nitrates in beetroot juice have a dose-dependent effect on blood pressure, as well as thinning the blood.
Many of the unique phytonutrients present in beets have been shown to function as anti-inflammatory compounds. Several types of heart disease — including atherosclerosis — are characterised by chronic unwanted inflammation. For this reason, beets have been studied within the context of heart disease, and there are some encouraging results in this area. Beets are also an unusual source of betaine. Betaine is a key nutrient made from the B-complex vitamin, choline. Choline is a key vitamin for helping regulate inflammation in the cardiovascular system. Researchers hope that the anti-inflammatory molecules found in beets may eventually provide cardiovascular benefits, as well as anti-inflammatory benefits for other body systems.
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