Consuming beetroot juice may boost stamina and allow people to exercise for up to 16 per cent longer, according to a new study from the UK. The vegetable juice’s nitrate content may reduce oxygen uptake to an extent that cannot be achieved by any other known means, making exercise less tiring, according to findings published in the Journal of Applied Physiology. “We were amazed by the effects of beetroot juice on oxygen uptake because these effects cannot be achieved by any other known means, including training.”

“The principal original finding of this investigation is that three days of dietary supplementation with nitrate-rich beetroot juice (which doubled the plasma nitrite) significantly reduced the O2 cost of cycling at a fixed sub-maximal work rate and increased the time to task failure during severe exercise,” wrote Jones and his co-workers.

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