Effects of Acute Beetroot Juice Ingestion and Hypoxic Conditions on Metabolic Function, Skeletal Muscle Oxygenation, and Cardiac Function During Endurance Exercise in Healthy Young Men
Study Details
This new study examined whether acute beetroot juice could improve metabolic, muscle oxygenation and cardiac responses during exercise in 12 healthy young men under normoxic and hypoxic conditions 🔍
Participants consumed 70 mL beetroot juice providing 400 mg nitrate or placebo 2.5 h before exercise 🥤
They completed 30 min of cycling at 70% HRmax in normoxia or simulated hypoxia equivalent to FiO₂ 14.5% 🚴
Key Findings
🏔️ Hypoxia substantially reduced the mechanical workload required to maintain the same heart rate
🩸 Oxygen saturation fell from ~97% in normoxia to ~83–84% in hypoxia
💪 Beetroot juice increased the workload sustained at 70% HRmax under normoxic conditions, but not significantly under hypoxia
😮💨 RPE was similar across all four conditions despite differences in external workload
🫁 Hypoxia reduced VO₂ and oxygen pulse compared with normoxia
❤️ In normoxia, beetroot juice significantly increased oxygen pulse versus placebo, although VO₂ itself was not significantly different
🩸 Deoxygenated haemoglobin was significantly higher with hypoxia + placebo than in all three other conditions
🌱 Importantly, muscle deoxygenation with beetroot juice under hypoxia was statistically similar to both normoxic conditions
…this suggests nitrate supplementation may attenuate the increased muscle oxygen extraction normally required during hypoxic exercise
🔄 RER was higher with hypoxia + placebo than normoxia + placebo and hypoxia + beetroot juice, potentially suggesting a smaller hypoxia-induced shift toward carbohydrate metabolism with beetroot juice
🫀 Stroke volume and cardiac output were unaffected by beetroot juice
Conclusion
Beetroot juice taken ~2.5 h before exercise may help maintain skeletal muscle oxygenation when training or competing in hypoxia, but whether this translates into better performance at altitude remains unclear ✅
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42738952/
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