Other Ingredients

Beetroot (Nitrates)

Also known as: Beta vulgaris, Beetroot juice, Dietary nitrates, Beet powder

The vegetable with a performance profile — dietary nitrates lower blood pressure and help endurance through real chemistry.

By IngredientWiki Editorial Team
Fact-checked by IngredientWiki Editorial Team
Updated 2026-09-26
2 min read

In short

Beetroot — specifically the nitrates concentrated in beet juice and powder — is one of the best-supported functional foods in sports science. The mechanism runs through a surprising detour: dietary nitrate is converted by mouth bacteria into nitrite, then into nitric oxide, the body's vasodilating signal molecule. The measured results: meta-analyses find beetroot juice lowers systolic blood pressure by several mmHg and improves endurance performance and efficiency by a few percent. It is the rare ingredient whose effects are delivered through actual physiological chemistry rather than association.

Dietary nitrate → nitrite → nitric oxide pathway
Meta-analyses: systolic BP down ~3–5 mmHg
Endurance and efficiency gains of a few percent
Mouth bacteria matter — antibacterial mouthwash blunts the effect

What is Beetroot (Nitrates)?

Beetroot is the poster child for how far food science has come: a humble root vegetable whose blood-pressure and performance effects are now mapped to a specific biochemical pathway — dietary nitrate, converted by oral bacteria into the signaling molecule nitric oxide. The pathway even explains its quirks, like why mouthwash cancels the effect. The clinical literature is correspondingly clean: consistent blood-pressure reductions and small but reproducible endurance gains, at doses achievable with a glass of beet juice. It is a functional food with a mechanism, which is rarer than the marketing would have you believe.

Where it comes from

Natural sources

Root of Beta vulgaris; nitrates concentrate in the juice
Nitrate content varies with soil and growing conditions — a known variability problem
The beet's deep color comes from betalains, a separate antioxidant family

How it's made

Sold as fresh juice, concentrated 'shots', powders, and nitrate-standardized capsules.

What it does in products

Benefits

Blood pressure

strong evidence

Meta-analyses find beetroot juice lowers systolic pressure by roughly 3–5 mmHg in adults, with larger effects in hypertensive populations.

Endurance performance

strong evidence

Pooled trials show a few percent improvement in time-to-exhaustion and efficiency — real, if modest, and most consistent in recreational athletes.

High-intensity and team-sport efforts

moderate evidence

Studies report better repeated-sprint and high-intensity performance in some protocols; effects vary more than for endurance.

Side effects & safety

Beeturia (pink/red urine) (common)Harmless and expected; the pigment simply passes through.

Stomach upset (uncommon)More common with concentrated shots on an empty stomach.

Safety considerations

Food amounts are fine; concentrated nitrate supplements lack data — prefer dietary beet intake in pregnancy.
Adds to blood-pressure medications — monitor if combining.
Do not combine with erectile-dysfunction drugs (nitrate interaction).
Not for: Concurrent PDE5 inhibitors
Not for: Hypotension
Not for: Kidney stones (beets are oxalate-rich)

How it's used

In supplements

Performance and BP studies used 300–600 mg of nitrate, delivered by ~500 mL of beet juice or a concentrated shot, 2–3 hours before exercise. For daily BP support, similar doses once daily. Avoid antibacterial mouthwash around dosing — it kills the bacteria that activate nitrate.

Regulatory status

Food (GRAS) and dietary supplement; nitrate concentrates are not drugs. No disease-treatment approval.
GRAS (generally recognized as safe) for food use.

The mouthwash quirk: why oral bacteria are part of the dose

Beetroot's nitrate pathway has a strange dependency discovered accidentally in the literature: the first conversion step — nitrate to nitrite — is performed not by your body but by bacteria living on your tongue. Studies found that using antibacterial mouthwash before beet juice substantially blunts the blood-pressure and performance effects, because it wipes out the microbial workforce. The practical implications are as odd as the science: if you use antiseptic mouthwash daily, your beetroot supplement may be half as effective; swishing without mouthwash, or timing doses away from oral-care products, preserves the pathway. Few supplements have a side instruction involving the microbiome this directly.

Frequently asked questions

How much beet juice lowers blood pressure?

Roughly 500 mL of juice or a concentrated shot delivering 300–600 mg of nitrate, once daily; meta-analyses estimate 3–5 mmHg systolic reduction. Effects peak 2–3 hours after intake.

Does beetroot improve athletic performance?

Yes, modestly — a few percent on endurance measures like time-to-exhaustion, most consistently in recreational athletes. It is an ergogenic aid, but a marginal one.

Why is my urine red after eating beets?

That is beeturia — the harmless passage of betalain pigments. Roughly 10–14% of people see it. It is not blood and requires no action.

The bottom line

Beetroot is the best-mechanism'd food in the supplement aisle: nitrates become nitric oxide, pressure drops a few points, and endurance improves a few percent. Drink it 2–3 hours before training, skip the mouthwash around dosing, and expect honest, modest effects.

References

Beetroot juice and blood pressure (meta-analysis). PubMed (National Library of Medicine). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=beetroot+blood+pressure+meta-analysis
Dietary nitrate and exercise performance (meta-analysis). PubMed (National Library of Medicine). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=dietary+nitrate+exercise+performance+meta
Nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway (review). PubMed (National Library of Medicine). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=nitrate+nitrite+nitric+oxide+pathway
Beetroot compound records. PubChem (National Library of Medicine). https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/#query=beetroot%20nitrate