Two month ago, another out of a handful currently available studies on the positive effects of beet root juice on exercise performance was published (
Bailey. 2010). Most scientists hitherto speculated that its positive effect on exercise performance is solely/mostly related to he high amount of dietary nitrate. A recent study by Lee, et.al. (
Lee. 2010) found another plausible explanation for the ergogenic effects of beet root: Beet root is very high in betaine of which the researchers were able to show that following supplementation with 1.2g betaine twice a day ...
"bench throw power (1779 90 and 1788 +/- 34 W, respectively) and isometric bench press force (2922 297 and 2503 +/- 28 N, respectively) were increased [and that] compared to pre-supplementation, vertical jump power and isometric squat force increased (p < 0.05)"
These results confirm those of a number of previous studies (
Hoffmann. 2009;
Armstrong, 2008), which found similar improvements in exercise performance.
