Drinking concentrated beet juice, which is high in nitrates, increases muscle power in patients with heart failure, a new study shows.
“It’s a small study, but we see robust changes in muscle power about two hours after patients drink the beet juice,” says senior author Linda R. Peterson, associate professor of medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
“A lot of the activities of daily living are power-based—getting out of a chair, lifting groceries, climbing stairs. And they have a major impact on quality of life. 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.
“In general, physically more powerful people live longer.”
13 Percent More Power
Based on research in elite athletes, especially cyclists who use beet juice to boost performance, the study’s corresponding author, Andrew R. Coggan, assistant professor of radiology, suggested trying the same strategy in patients with heart failure.
In the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, the scientists report data from nine patients with heart failure. Two hours after the treatment, patients demonstrated a 13 percent increase in power in muscles that extend the knee.
