Forget fruit smoothies, veggie juices, and protein shakes. New research shows the best sports drink is actually juice made from beetroot, when it comes to enhancing physical performance.
And you don’t need to be an elite athlete to take advantage of beet juice’s health benefits, according to scientists.

The study, led by UWA School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health's Dr. Peter Peeling, found beetroot supplements significantly boosted the physiological and performance of 11 elite male and female kayakers, Medical Xpress reports.

The athletes underwent laboratory-based four-minute ergometer tests after swallowing beetroot shots. The results showed the juice improved the so-called “task economy” of the male kayakers — a given work output sustained for less of an oxygen cost — and improved the performance of females by 1.7 percent.

"Given that the margin between gold and silver medals in the Men's K1-1000m and the Women's K1-500m races at the 2012 London Olympic Games was 0.3 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively, the relatively small performance changes that we recorded are clearly relevant," said Peeling.

Beetroot juice is now commercially-available in supermarkets like Gatorade and Powerade.
Researchers believe the nitrate in beetroot juice improves the efficiency of the body’s cellular energy factories — called mitochondria.

Peeling said consuming the juice two to three hours pre-race benefitted the athletes, but noted similar benefits may be possible just from increasing the dietary consumption of other good natural sources of nitrate — such as spinach, strawberries, and cherries — for a few days prior to racing, he says.