Magic beet root juice

Scientists from the United Kingdom and the USA have done some interesting experiments the last few years, which show remarkable health benefits from drinking red beet juice. Beet root juice:

• Improves stamina 
• Lowers high blood pressure 
• Increases blood flow to the brains 

Recently is discovered that the high nitrate content of beetroot juice is responsible for most benefits. It is becoming a very popular drink among many different kinds of athletes because research shows such convincing evidence of improved sportive results. It has more effect than most doping chemicals and is a natural food.

During the Tour de France of 2011 a new study on a test with cyclists appeared. The riders had a trial of 2 x 4km and 16 km away. 2 1/2 hours for the rides they drank half a liter of beetroot juice and other times that do not contain nitrate at one time. The performance after drinking the normal, nitrate-rich, red beet juice were better than after the juice where the nitrate was taken out. Average, the difference was 11 seconds on the 4km time trial and 45 seconds on the 16 km time trial. This was because at the same oxygen consumption they could produce more energy. A blood vessel dilating action of the nitrate and the lower oxygen demand of the muscle are responsible for this. The authors emphasize that, apart from the nitrate, the polyphenols in red beets and betacyanine may also have a beneficial effect on the health and performance.

Nitrate and nitrite are not in all circumstances beneficial nutrients They are also often added to foods such as meats as a preservative. Nitrites in the stomach can be converted by a chemical reaction into the carcinogenic nitrosamines. There are indications that vitamin C prevents this but it depends on the amount of fatty acids that are present in the stomach. According to the researchers, this may explain the disappointing in practice anti-cancer effects of vitamin C. Fat remains a relatively long time in the stomach. The combination of nitrate rich foods + vitamin C is good but nitrate rich foods high in fat + + much vitamin C is not. So, on an empty stomach with some vitamin C seems the best option for fresh juice.

While fresh and raw often is the better option with most vegetables, this time there might be an exception. I stumbled upan an abstract about "Effect of the fermentation process on levels of nitrates and nitrites in selected vegetables" written by Heród-Leszczyńska T. and Miedzobrodzka A., two polish researchers. They discovered that "In the red beets after the process of fermentation a decrease in the level of nitrates by ca. 91.6% was noted. An undefined portion of the studied compounds passed into the liquid. The "beet acid" contained 595.9 mg/dm1 of nitrates and 3.26 mg/dm3 of nitrites."

So, the nitrates get passed over to the liquid and as fermentation is a kind of digestion and the lactic acid bacteria eat sugar and make the beet juice even healthier. It turns the juice into a probiotic super drink with a lower glycemic index than non-fermented beet juice. Especially for non-athletes a drink with a lower glycemic index is overall healthier.

You can ferment beets yourself. A nice recepy is found here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Fermented-Beets-With-Orange-and-Ginger or buy fermented juice at Amazon. The price is for 6 bottles, by the way...