03/20/2025
A key component of my microcirculation phytonutrient diet is beetroot juice, because its nitrate content improves nitric oxide production and hence microvascular flow and endothelial health. Several studies have found that it can thereby boost physical performance. Now beetroot juice has been shown to improve fitness gains in postmenopausal women. Those who drank a half-glass of beetroot juice before working out saw significantly greater improvements in fitness measures over eight weeks.
Late postmenopausal women, defined as at least six years past their final menstrual period, often find it harder to build strength and improve fitness compared to premenopausal women and men of the same age. Reduced nitric oxide availability may diminish the responsiveness of skeletal muscle and fine blood vessels during exercise. Beetroot juice is rich in dietary nitrate, which is stored only in limited amounts in muscle and is converted to nitric oxide during physical exertion.
In the study, 24 late postmenopausal women completed supervised, circuit-based exercise training three times per week for eight weeks. Half of the participants drank 140 mL of beetroot juice two to three hours before each workout. Before and after the training period, all participants underwent physical fitness assessments, including a six-minute walk test.
The participants who drank beetroot juice prior to exercise showed greater improvements in several aspects of physical function, including aerobic capacity and recovery, compared to the control group. For example, beetroot juice increased the six-minute walk test by 40 metres, while the exercise-only group improved by just 8 metres.
Those who took beetroot juice before working out also had significantly greater aerobic capacity measures, as well as heart rate recovery, with a 10-beats-per-minute decrease after the six-minute walk test for the beetroot juice group compared to a one-beat-per-minute decrease in the control group.
The researchers concluded that the study provided preliminary evidence that consuming beetroot juice before exercise could be uniquely beneficial for late postmenopausal women, helping this population to sustain mobility independence and quality of life.
For more information see: https://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/breaking-news/beetroot-juice-improves-fitness-gains-in-postmenopausal-women-study/?utm_campaign=NUT%20eNewsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8LCays33FE1adq4kJWxhlQXf6FQBt8GDZwTRP-Xc32imtMjDOwbXmhWzPCFoFqBKhAvua-Z292DfgrnQpqBZD-k6BO9Q&_hsmi=337934310&utm_content=337934310&utm_source=hs_email
and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39250543/
