Micah Stanley
Beetroot juice is an ideal sports drink. Now it has been shown that beetroot juice can not only improve physical performance, but also mental ones. If older people drink beetroot juice before exercising, it not only increases the endurance and strength of the body but also allows the brain to work much more efficiently.
Beetroot juice for the heart, blood vessels, and brain
The beetroot has an extremely healing effect on the blood vessels and thus on blood circulation – as we have already explained here: Beetroot – is the athlete’s vegetable. Beetroot dilates blood vessels, lowers blood pressure, and reduces the strain on the heart.
In sports, this is shown by the fact that the heart’s oxygen requirement decreases, at the same time more oxygen is transported to the muscles, and in this way both endurance and strength during training increase.
However, healthy blood vessels and fast-flowing blood not only lead to a healthy heart, but also to an efficient brain, and the entire body heals because good blood circulation is the prerequisite for a perfect metabolism. Every organ is optimally supplied with nutrients and oxygen, while at the same time waste products can be disposed of and eliminated quickly.
Beetroot juice enhances the positive effects of exercise on the brain
We know from some research that physical activity has a positive impact on the brain,” explains study author W. Jack Rejeski of Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
In our current study, however, we were able to show that the brain performance of older people can be increased even more if they also regularly consume beetroot juice in addition to exercising. Their brain activity then almost resembles that of young adults.”
Only a healthy diet can keep the brain young
Of course, more research is needed in this area to show that the results obtained so far are repeatable at any time. Nevertheless, the researchers point out that it is important to consider how important nutrition is for maintaining a healthy and efficient brain – which we also report again and again, e.g. B. here: Unhealthy diet shrinks the brain
The study by Rejeski’s team was published in the journal Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences. This is the first exercise and beetroot juice experiment to examine the combined effect of these two factors on the neural network in the motor cortex (the area of the brain that controls voluntary movements).
Six weeks of beetroot juice and exercise was enough to rejuvenate the brain
The study involved 26 men and women aged 55 and older. They have never exercised, have high blood pressure, and have taken no more than two medications to control their blood pressure.
For six weeks, half of the participants were now to take a beetroot juice supplement (containing 560 mg nitrate per dose) three times a week, one study at a time before a moderate-intensity 50-minute treadmill walk. The other half also completed the treadmill training but received a placebo supplement.
Beetroot juice supplies the brain with oxygen
Beets naturally have a relatively high nitrate content. Nitrate is converted into nitrogen monoxide (NO) in the body – and it is precisely this NO that promotes blood circulation, dilates blood vessels, and has been shown in many studies to boost performance for athletes from very different age groups.
Nitric Oxide is a really powerful molecule. It seems to migrate to those parts of the body that suffer from a lack of oxygen or that require a particularly large amount of oxygen – e.g. B. the brain,” says Rejeski.
Combine beetroot juice with exercise
Now when you exercise, the motor cortex in the brain evaluates the signals that come in from the body. Exercise strengthens the motor cortex. But if you now combine beetroot juice with your physical activity, then your brain will be supplied with much more oxygen, which is an excellent prerequisite for strengthening the motor cortex much better than just sport alone.
In the sports beetroot group, it was also shown that neuronal plasticity, i.e. the ability of the brain to continuously optimize itself and its functions, had increased significantly in contrast to the group that only did sports – apparently so well that the brain performance could easily be compared with that of young people.
Good for the brain: drink beetroot juice alternately with blueberry juice
So if you want to improve the performance of your brain, it’s quite simple and inexpensive: exercise a lot and drink beetroot juice regularly. If you feel like a change from time to time, you are welcome to drink blueberry juice (= blueberry juice) from time to time.
