When a team of researchers
discovered that nitrates present in beets improve an athlete’s muscle
performance, it was only natural for them to become curious as to what else
these powerful nitrates could do. During
aerobic exercise, the nitrates convert to nitric oxide, providing benefits to
blood pressure and cardiovascular health.
Most recently, these same
researchers determined that the nitrates also benefit patients with heart
failure. Heart failure is the gradual
loss of pumping capacity, which results in fatigue and shortness of
breath. This means that the everyday
activities that were once simple will become increasingly difficult to
accomplish. “Activities of daily living
are power-based,” notes senior study author Dr. Linda R. Peterson. She adds, “we want to help make people more
powerful because power is such an important predictor of how well people do,
whether they have heart failure, cancer or other conditions.”
A small study group of patients
showed a 13% increase in power in muscles that extend the knee just two hours
after drinking beet juice. Dr. Andrew R.
Coggan, assistant professor of radiology at the Washington University School of
Medicine, compares the “beet-juice effect” to Popeye eating his spinach. In fact, he says, “the magnitude of this
improvement is comparable to that seen in heart patients who have done 2-3
months of resistance training.”
The benefits of nitrates are
continuing to be studied. Next, the team
would like to study the effects of nitrates in older populations. Dr. Coggan hopes that his future research
will provide a significant benefit to older individuals.
No comments:
Post a Comment