Is This Vegetable A Performance-Enhancing Drug?

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The very latest research in sports drinks that improve athletic performance isn’t what you think. It’s not a lurid yellow isotonic formula with flashy marketing. It’s not a magic powder and it’s not evening chocolate milk, which you’ll no doubt already know is as good as it gets for post-match recovery (unless you’re lactose intolerant).

We’re talking about a humble root vegetable. Most children I know grew up hating it, probably because it’s an uncommon colour and if mom cooked it wrong, it tasted like mud. But researchers worldwide – and 2015-2016 Premier League Champions Leicester City – concur: when it comes to acquiring an aerobic edge, the beetroot is king.

How much of an advantage does it give you? According to research from a professor at my alma mater, the University of Exeter in the UK, the right dosage of concentrated beetroot juice can give you a 3.5% gain in activity that lasts between five and 30 minutes. This isn’t a big number, but the ability to train regularly at 3.5% above your baseline is a game changer when compounded over time. And whichever position you play, you know the fine margins involved in getting a foot in front of your opponent.

Professor Andrew Jones’ study, which was first published in 2011, attributes this to two things; that beetroot is high in nitrates and  the effect it has on your mitochondria: In an interview given to Wired journalist Marc McClusky, Jones said: “It causes blood vessels to dilate, so you can provide more blood through them. Simultaneously, it seems to make the mitochondria more efficient, so they are able to create the same energy while consuming less oxygen. So you really have two things happening. Lower oxygen cost because the mitochondria are more efficient, and then you have a higher oxygen supply. In terms of performance, that’s a pretty good combination.”

To take advantage of this combination, you’ll need the right dosage of beetroot juice. More does not equal more, folks. The consensus is that the optimal level is 600ml of juice consumed between 2 and 2.5 hours before training or playing. You can get this through normal juice from the grocery store, or more conveniently by bulk ordering concentrated powder made by companies such as US-based Neogenesis Labs. This is much better if traveling to away games.

But be warned! There are two serious drawbacks to drinking beet juice. The first, according to Cincinnati Bengals tight end C.J. Uzomah, who first tried the drink when playing for the Auburn Tigers in 2014, is that it tastes “like the worst thing in the entire world.”

The second is that it turns your piss purple.

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