- A new study finds that consuming dietary nitrates before exercise can enhance the amount of force that quadricep muscles can produce.
- Biopsies of study participants revealed that the muscles of people who had ingested a nitrate suspension held more nitrates than the control group. The beneficial action of nitrates in muscles is not yet clear.
- Beet juice is rich in nitrates, suggesting that drinking it may enhance athletic performance without incurring issues increasingly associated with nitrates in meats, processed meats, cheese, and bacon.
In a new randomized, crossover study, researchers demonstrate that the consumption of dietary nitrates improves athletic performance, and they explain why that may be.
The study found that during exercise, participants experienced about a 7% increase in muscle torque, or strength, compared to those who consumed the placebo.
The study comes from researchers at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, together with researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia, and the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Its results appear in the journal
Ten healthy male volunteers signed up to participate in the study. They consumed either a suspension of potassium nitrate, or as a control condition, a liquid containing a potassium chloride placebo.
Researchers performed muscle biopsies on the participants four times: before ingestion, 1 hour later, 3 hours later, and after participants had performed 60 maximal contractions of knee extensors.
Compared to those who ingested the placebo, individuals who consumed the nitrate solution had elevated levels of nitrates in their
The increase persisted for a few hours after nitrate consumption.
The study also looked at how nitrates may have enhanced performance.
Nitrates are naturally occurring chemical compounds that can be beneficial for health, at least in part because they encourage the production of…
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