The Science of Beetroot: Understanding What This Root Vegetable Actually Does to Your Body

Table of Contents

From Ancient Medicine to Modern Performance

Walk into any health food store today, and you'll find beetroot powder sitting alongside the protein powders and pre-workout supplements. Scroll through social media, and you'll see athletes downing beetroot juice before competitions, wellness influencers adding it to their morning smoothies, and biohackers tracking their blood pressure after supplementation. But what's actually happening inside your body when you consume beetroot?

While beetroot has been used as medicine since Roman times, scientific interest only gained momentum in the past few decades. The turning point came in 1998, when three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that nitric oxide (NO) acts as a signalling molecule in the cardiovascular system. This fundamentally changed our understanding of how blood vessels work and opened up entirely new areas of research into dietary nitrates.

As researchers Clifford et al. noted in their comprehensive 2015 review (Clifford et al., 2015), "While scientific interest in beetroot has only gained momentum in the past few decades, reports of its use as a natural medicine date back to Roman times." Today, beetroot is being studied as a potential therapeutic intervention for hypertension, atherosclerosis, type 2 diabetes, and even dementia!

This isn't about jumping on another wellness trend. It's about understanding the biochemistry that makes beetroot uniquely valuable, examining the clinical evidence that supports its use, and being honest about both the promising findings and the important nuances.

The Nitrate-Nitric Oxide Pathway: The Foundation of Beetroot's Effects

To understand beetroot's effects, we need to start with nitric oxide (NO). This gaseous signalling molecule is what's known as a vasodilator, meaning it works to relax, widen, and dilate blood vessels. When your blood vessels dilate, blood flows more freely, blood pressure drops, and oxygen delivery to tissues improves. 

How Beetroot Becomes Nitric Oxide

Beetroot is extraordinarily rich in inorganic nitrates, containing approximately 250 mg per kilogram of fresh weight. When you consume beetroot, these nitrates begin a remarkable journey through your body.

Step 1: The Oral Conversion

When nitrates first enter your mouth, your oral microbiome, the bacteria living on your tongue and in your saliva will immediately begin converting nitrates into nitrites. According to research reviewed by Lundberg et al. (Lundberg et al., 2008), approximately 25% of circulating nitrate enters what's called the "entero-salivary cycle," where oral bacteria perform this crucial conversion.

This is why your oral health matters when it comes to cardiovascular benefits. Studies have shown that using antibacterial mouthwash can actually reduce the cardiovascular benefits of dietary nitrates by eliminating the bacteria responsible for this conversion.

This is a perfect example of how our bodies work synergistically with beneficial bacteria, like Bifidobacteria in our gut that help us digest plant fibers and make butyrate. Our oral bacteria help us access the cardiovascular benefits of these plant-derived nitrates.

Step 2: Gastric and Systemic Conversion

The nitrites produced in your mouth travel to your stomach, where the acidic environment converts some directly into nitric oxide, providing an immediate boost. The remaining nitrites are absorbed into your bloodstream and converted to nitric oxide in areas where it's needed most, particularly in regions with low oxygen levels, a state called hypoxia.

Here's where your body shows its remarkable intelligence: nitric oxide production is amplified precisely where oxygen levels are lowest and blood flow is most needed. Hypoxia occurs naturally in working muscles during exercise, when demand for oxygen temporarily outpaces your current supply.

This is your body's built-in alarm system and dietary nitrates essentially give it a louder, more powerful signal. The result: more blood flow delivered exactly where it's needed, exactly when it's needed most.

Blood Pressure and Cardiovascular Health: What the Evidence Shows

The most well-established benefit of beetroot supplementation is its effect on blood pressure. This isn't based on weak evidence, it's supported by systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and numerous randomized controlled trials.

The landmark meta-analysis came in 2013, when Siervo et al. published their comprehensive review (Siervo et al., 2013) showing that beetroot juice and nitrate supplementation significantly lowered systolic blood pressure. The reductions were consistent across studies, typically in the range of 4–5 mmHg for systolic blood pressure.

What This Means for You:

To put that in everyday terms: systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading, the pressure your heart exerts when it beats. A reduction of even a few points in that number matters at a population level.

Research consistently shows that small, sustained drops in blood pressure translate into meaningfully lower risk of heart attack and stroke over time. Lifestyle interventions like reducing refined sugar and seed oil intake or adding moderate exercise typically produce reductions in the same range, placing beetroot firmly in the company of evidence-backed lifestyle strategies.

Recent Research Strengthens the Picture:

Recent research continues to strengthen this picture. A 2024 study by Delgado Spicuzza et al. (Delgado Spicuzza et al., 2024) examined postmenopausal women, a population particularly vulnerable to cardiovascular disease. After just seven days of nitrate supplementation (approximately 400 mg daily), researchers observed meaningful improvements in macrovascular function which suggests beetroot's benefits may be especially valuable for populations where blood vessel health is a main priority.

Understanding Endothelial Function:

The mechanism here relates to endothelial function. Your endothelium is the thin layer of cells lining the inside of every blood vessel in your body.

When functioning well, it regulates blood pressure, prevents clots, and keeps inflammation in check. When it becomes dysfunctional, it's one of the earliest steps in the progression toward atherosclerosis which is the hardening and narrowing of arteries that underlies practically all heart disease.

Beetroot, through enhanced nitric oxide production and it's polyphenols (which we'll cover shortly), actively supports healthy endothelial function from the inside out.

Safety and Tolerability:

A 2024 study by Pinheiro et al. (Pinheiro et al., 2024) also confirmed excellent safety and tolerability of beetroot extract over a full 12 weeks in older participants. Participants showed no adverse effects, and the supplementation was well-tolerated throughout the entire study period, a meaningful finding for anyone considering beetroot as part of their long-term health routine.

This kind of sustained safety data is exactly what gives confidence in daily supplementation, which is why The Clear Jar's beetroot powder is designed for consistent, everyday use rather than occasional dosing.

Individual Variation: Does Beetroot Work for Everyone?

It's worth noting that responses to beetroot vary among individuals. Some people are "rapid responders" who experience substantial blood pressure reductions, while others see more modest changes. This variability doesn't diminish beetroot's value from what we've seen in the research, it simply reflects the reality that nutrition interacts with our unique biology and current lifestyle.

Factors That Influence Individual Response:

1. Oral Microbiome Composition Your oral microbiome composition plays a major role, since the bacteria in your mouth perform the critical first step in nitrate conversion. If your oral microbiome is disrupted, perhaps from antibiotic use, regular antibacterial mouthwash, or other factors, the conversion process may be less efficient. This is another compelling reason to protect and support your oral microbiome alongside beetroot supplementation to get the full effect.

2. Baseline Nitric Oxide Production Baseline nitric oxide production also matters. Those with already robust endothelial function may see more subtle effects, while people with compromised NO production due to age, lifestyle factors, or existing cardiovascular concerns often experience more pronounced benefits.

3. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Finally, it's worth understanding reactive oxygen species (ROS). These are unstable molecules produced naturally in the body during metabolism, but which accumulate in greater quantities under conditions of chronic stress, poor diet, or inflammation.

At high levels, ROS can directly react with nitric oxide and neutralize it before it has a chance to act, reducing its effectiveness. This is one of the reasons beetroot's antioxidant compounds are so valuable: by helping manage ROS levels, they protect the very nitric oxide they help create.

The Bottom Line:

How Beetroot Becomes Nitric Oxide

The key is monitoring your individual response rather than assuming you'll match study averages. If you're using beetroot for blood pressure management, track your numbers. If using it for exercise, monitor your metrics. This personalized approach is far more valuable than blindly following general recommendations.

Exercise Performance: The Oxygen Connection

If you've spent time around endurance athletes, you've probably heard about beetroot powder or juice as a performance enhancer. Unlike many supplements, beetroot has solid science supporting its use.

The mechanism is straightforward: if beetroot increases nitric oxide production, improving blood flow and oxygen delivery, working muscles become more efficient. Multiple studies confirm this happens.

One of the most compelling recent examples comes from Nowak et al., published in 2025 in the journal Nutrients (Nowak et al., 2025). This research examined beetroot juice in recreationally active adults and found improved oxygen efficiency and faster recovery. When oxygen delivery improves through vasodilation, muscles can produce the same work using less oxygen, a concept called "exercise economy."

Who Benefits Most:

Here's something worth knowing: performance benefits tend to be most pronounced in recreational athletes rather than elite competitors. Elite athletes already have highly optimized cardiovascular systems with exceptional endothelial function, so additional nitrates offer diminishing returns.

Recreational athletes and gym-goers have more room for improvement, and beetroot can help bridge that gap meaningfully. Whether you're training for your first 5K or trying to push past a plateau in the gym, this is where beetroot can shine.

Practical Dosing:

Most studies showing performance benefits use 300–500 mg of nitrates consumed 1–3 hours before exercise, allowing peak nitric oxide production to align with the workout. This lines up well with the convenience of a pre-workout powder stick of The Clear Jar's beetroot mixed into water, a smoothie or protein shake (from what I prefer personally).

The Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties

While the nitrate-nitric oxide pathway gets most of the attention, beetroot contains other bioactive compounds that contribute significantly to its health benefits. Bear with me here, because this next section goes a bit deeper, but I assure you, it's worth it.

Betalains: Rare and Powerful Pigments

Among these powerful compounds, we have betalains: the polyphenol pigments that give beetroot its unmistakable deep red colour. Betalains are both powerful antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, and they're remarkably rare in nature.

As Clifford et al. explain (Clifford et al., 2015), "Beetroot is also one of the few vegetables that contain a group of highly bioactive pigments known as betalains." These include betacyanins (the red-violet pigments, led by betanin at 300–600 mg per kilogram of beetroot) and betaxanthins (the yellow-orange pigments).

Exceptional Antioxidant Capacity:

Multiple studies have demonstrated beetroot's insane antioxidant capacity. In standardized laboratory assays measuring free radical inhibition, beetroot consistently outperformed 22 other vegetable juice drinks and powders tested by inhibiting radical formation by approximately 92–100%!

Even after simulated digestion, beetroot retained at least 55% of its radical-scavenging ability. Perhaps most crucial, beetroot's antioxidant capacity surpassed more familiar options like tomato, carrot, orange, and pineapple. Only pomegranate was displayed with a higher antioxidant capacity.

Anti-Inflammatory Mechanisms

Chronic inflammation quietly underlies most age-related diseases, from cardiovascular disease to joint degeneration to cognitive decline. Beetroot has been shown to modulate inflammation through several distinct pathways, and the science here is genuinely impressive.

Pathway 1: NF-kB Regulation Betalains interfere with pro-inflammatory signalling cascades, particularly through a master regulator called Nuclear Factor-Kappa B (NF-kB). Think of NF-kB as an inflammation "on switch" which directly activates the genes that amplify and sustain the inflammatory response. By dialing down NF-kB activity, beetroot can potentially reduce inflammation closer to its source rather than just masking symptoms.

Pathway 2: COX-2 Inhibition Another pathway involves cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an enzyme that produces pro-inflammatory compounds called prostaglandins, and notably, the same enzyme targeted by common anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen.

Research has shown that betanin inhibited COX-2 enzyme activity by 97% (so rather than opting for pain killers, perhaps try some beetroot instead). To put that in context, its inhibitory effects were comparable to or greater than ibuprofen and other popular name brand NSAIDs, from a whole food source.

Human Evidence:

Human evidence supports this too. A study examining betalain-rich capsules in osteoarthritic patients found that after just 10 days of supplementation, key inflammatory markers dropped significantly: TNF-a decreased by 8.3–35% and IL-6 decreased by 22–28.3%.

Most importantly, this reduction in inflammatory activity coincided with a significant decrease in self-reported pain. That's a meaningful quality-of-life outcome from a natural, food-based compound.

Cognitive Function: The Emerging Frontier

One of the more exciting emerging areas of beetroot research involves brain health. The brain consumes roughly 20% of our total oxygen supply despite making up only about 2% of body weight, making it one of the most metabolically demanding organs in the body, and of course, for good reason. If beetroot improves blood flow through nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation, it stands to reason that some of that benefit would reach the brain.

Increased Blood Flow to the Brain:

Early research supports this idea. Studies with older adults consuming high-nitrate diets showed MRI-confirmed increases in blood flow to the frontal cortex, the region responsible for executive function, working memory, planning, and task-switching.

These are precisely the cognitive capacities that tend to decline first with age, and the fact that dietary nitrates appear to improve perfusion in this specific region is a genuinely compelling finding.

Improvements in Reaction Time:

Other research has found improvements in simple reaction time in type 2 diabetics after 14 days of beetroot supplementation. While cognitive performance research in this area is still maturing and results across studies vary, the mechanistic rationale is strong: better blood flow to the brain is rarely a bad thing.

As dosing protocols are refined and longer studies are conducted, this may become one of the most significant areas of beetroot research for healthy aging.

Practical Application: How to Use Beetroot Correctly

Let's translate the science into actionable information for your health goals!

For Cardiovascular Health and Blood Pressure Management

If blood pressure management or vascular health is your primary goal, consistency matters more than timing. Daily supplementation helps maintain steady nitric oxide levels and supports those modest but meaningful blood pressure reductions over time.

With The Clear Jar's beetroot powder, that's as simple as 1 standard powder stick stirred into water, a smoothie, or your morning protein shake. You can also cook with 2–3 whole beetroots or drink around 100–250 mL of concentrated beetroot juice, but the powder is far more convenient in my opinion, having a longer shelf-life and making it easy for on-the-go usage.

Any time of day works, what matters most is making it a daily habit. While acute effects can occur within hours, sustained cardiovascular benefits build over time. Think of this as a dietary pattern rather than a quick fix, and give it 2–4 weeks of consistent use before fully evaluating your response.

For Exercise Performance

If you're using beetroot to enhance athletic performance, timing matters more here. The research points to consuming your nitrates 1–3 hours before exercise, which aligns peak nitric oxide production (occurring around 1–3 hours post-consumption) with your workout, the window when blood nitrite levels are at their highest.

Dose is typically the same (though I may recommend adding in a bit more): 1-2 sticks of The Clear Jar's beetroot powder before training is one of the most convenient ways to hit this target, especially compared to sourcing, storing, and consuming whole beetroots or refrigerated juice.

Many athletes also use a loading protocol of 3–7 days before major competitions, though consistent daily use likely provides the most benefit for regular training.

Expect real but realistic improvements, think 2–5% gains in performance metrics. In competitive contexts, that's meaningful. In everyday training, it means doing more work with less perceived effort.

For General Health and Antioxidant Support

If your interest is in overall wellbeing, antioxidant protection, and anti-inflammatory support, even smaller daily doses provide consistent benefit. The betalain content in beetroot works best when consumed regularly, so adding a scoop to yogurt, oatmeal, or a smoothie daily builds steady protective activity over time.

And don't overlook whole beetroots when you're cooking, they're wonderful roasted, steamed, or eaten raw in salads. One thing most people throw away without realizing: the beet greens are just as nutritious as the root itself.

Sauté them with a little olive oil, garlic, and lemon just like you would spinach or Swiss chard. They're slightly earthy, a little bitter in the best way, and loaded with a different profile of phytonutrients than the root. It's one of those rare cases where the "waste" is actually the good stuff.

A Note on Form

Whole beetroots deliver the full spectrum of compounds plus fiber. Beetroot juice is highly concentrated but inconvenient, expensive, and perishable. Beetroot powder, from what I found, like The Clear Jar's, offers something that is shelf-stable, easy to dose, easy to mix, and consistent in its nitrate content.

For anyone serious about making beetroot a daily practice then powder simply makes it more sustainable.

Important Tip:

One important tip: avoid antibacterial mouthwash around the time of beetroot consumption. Your oral bacteria are performing a critical step in the nitrate conversion process, and killing them off undermines the whole pathway. This is a small change with a real impact on effectiveness.

Safety Considerations

Beetroot has an excellent safety profile as humans have been eating it for thousands of years. The 2024 Pinheiro study (Pinheiro et al., 2024) confirmed safety and tolerability over 12 consecutive weeks of daily supplementation in older adults, with no adverse effects reported.

Who Should Exercise Caution:

A few populations should exercise some caution: like people managing type 1 diabetes who should monitor blood sugar response, and anyone on blood pressure medications or PDE5 inhibitors should speak with their healthcare provider before adding high-dose beetroot supplementation.

For the vast majority of people, however, beetroot is as safe as it is effective.

Final Thoughts: A Worthwhile Addition, Not a Panacea

Beetroot isn't a miracle cure, and anyone selling it as such is overselling the science. What it is, however, is a well-researched, safe, food-based supplement with legitimate mechanisms of action and consistent evidence for specific benefits, particularly cardiovascular health and exercise performance.

What the Research Shows:

The research we've explored, from Clifford's comprehensive 2015 review to the recent 2024 and 2025 studies, paints a clear picture of a supplement with real, positive, and measurable benefits. The nitrate-nitric oxide pathway is well-characterized. The blood pressure effects are consistently demonstrated across multiple meta-analyses.

The exercise performance benefits show clear mechanistic rationale with solid supporting evidence. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity from betalains adds another layer of protective value that goes well beyond what most single supplements can offer.

It Won't Replace the Fundamentals:

It won't replace the fundamentals. No amount of beetroot supplementation compensates for poor sleep, chronic stress, a sedentary lifestyle, or a diet dominated by processed foods. But when used intelligently as part of a comprehensive approach to health, it genuinely complements those foundational practices and delivers measurable results relatively quickly.

Understanding the "Why" Matters:

What makes beetroot research so compelling isn't just the outcomes, it's the understanding of why it works. When we know that oral bacteria convert nitrates to nitrites, we can avoid mouthwash that might sabotage the process. When we understand that the pathway is most active during hypoxic conditions, we can time supplementation around exercise.

When we recognize that individual variation exists, we can monitor our personal response rather than assuming universal effects.

This is the difference between blindly following wellness trends and making genuinely informed decisions. The former fills supplement cabinets with expensive products that may or may not work. The latter leads to targeted interventions grounded in understanding, and that understanding is what The Clear Jar is built on from my experience with them.

Your Next Steps:

Whether you're managing cardiovascular risk, chasing a performance goal, or investing in healthy aging, beetroot deserves a consistent place in your routine. Choose quality sources, use it daily, and pay attention to how your body responds.

Written by Brandon Moase, Nutritionist — The Nutritional Paradigm

 

Key References

Clifford T, Howatson G, West DJ, Stevenson EJ. The Potential Benefits of Red Beetroot Supplementation in Health and Disease. Nutrients. 2015;7(4):2801–2822.

Siervo M, Lara J, Ogbonmwan I, Mathers JC. Inorganic nitrate and beetroot juice supplementation reduces blood pressure in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Nutrition. 2013;143(6):818–826.

Lundberg JO, Weitzberg E, Gladwin MT. The nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. 2008;7:156–167.

Delgado Spicuzza J, et al. Short-term dietary nitrate supplementation improves macrovascular function in postmenopausal women. Frontiers in Nutrition. 2024.

Nowak W, et al. Beetroot juice and aging: improved oxygen efficiency and recovery in recreationally active adults. Nutrients. 2025.

Fejes Z, et al. Four-week beetroot juice intake shifts nitrate metabolism with mixed effects on vascular function in older adults. 2024.

Pinheiro LC, et al. Safety and tolerability of 12-week standardized beetroot extract supplementation in older participants. 2024.

 

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