Unbeatable beet
View(s):By Roger Dobson
Three cheers: A daily glass of beetroot juice can help lower blood pressure
With its sweet, earthy taste and ruby-red interior, beetroot is a favourite of foodies, but there’s far more to it than that. The majority of beetroot’s benefits stem from the unusually high levels of nitrates it contains – gram for gram it possesses about 20 times more than most other vegetables.
Nitrates have suffered a bad reputation because of their use as a food additive. Animal experiments had linked their commercial use to cancer and in the Sixties the World Health Organisation set upper limits on their use. However, recent studies have shown that nitrates in beetroot lower blood pressure.
A 2010 study carried out by Queen Mary’s University in London found that drinking just one 250ml glass of beetroot juice a day dramatically lowered blood pressure for several hours. A new study carried out by the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne, Australia, found that a 500ml glass of the juice led to a significant drop in blood pressure after six hours. Nitrates not only lower blood pressure but improve stamina too.
A 2010 study found that adults who drank 500ml of the juice a day could exercise 16 per cent longer than those given a drink supplement with nitrates removed.
Beetroot may also halter the progression of dementia as well as the growth of cancer tumours
Other benefits
- A 2011 study carried out by Wake Forest University in North Carolina found beetroot may slow the progression of dementia.
- Betacyanin, the pigment that gives beetroot its rich hue, is a powerful antioxidant that has been shown to possess anti-cancer propertiwes.
- ‘Beetroot is high in fibre and a 100g portion – about two or three small beetroot – contains ten per cent of your RDA, which helps regulate bowel movements,’ she says.
- It also contains a substance called betaine which normalises stomach acid secretion.’
(Courtesy Daily Mail)
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