Beet It Sport – the beetroot shot manufactured in Suffolk, England – is celebrating 10 years of research into beetroot juice research and the effects of dietary nitrate on sporting performance/endurance.
Over the past 10 years, the company notes a number of milestones:
2009 – first study published on effects of nitrate from beetroot juice on exercise performance
Dr Stephen Bailey and colleagues at the University of Exeter, reported six days of daily Beet It beetroot juice (500ml/day) consumption, reduced oxygen uptake by 5% during exercise and delayed time to exhaustion by 16%.
England Rugby trials concentrated beetroot juice (prototype Beet It shots).
Beet It juice is supplied to Dubai for Camel racing!
2011 – first study uses Beet It nitrate-depleted placebo shots
Researchers at the University of Exeter are the first to use a placebo shot – an identical version of the shot (in appearance and taste), except with the nitrate removed. The placebo shot helps with more robust research.
Mo Farah receives delivery of Beet It shots to his home arranged by UK Athletics.
2012 – Beet It used at London Olympics
Beet It beetroot juice is used by many competing athletes, including 4x gold medallist David Weir, who is quoted “as inexplicably using beetroot juice” by Boris Johnson in his Olympic Champions salute.
Researchers at McMaster University, Canada, find Beet It shots improve 10-km time-trial cycling time by 12 seconds (1.2%) in trained cyclists.
2013 – Australian Institute of Sport recognition
Professor Louise Burke at the Australian Institute of Sport publishes an editorial that recognises the performance potential of beetroot juice supplementation for athletes.
Researchers at the University of Exeter find Beet It shot supplementation improves intense intermittent exercise performance by 4.2%. Such findings increase the applications of Beet It shots for team sport, such as football, hockey and rugby.
2014 – Italian Olympic Committee and University of Cagliari report novel findings using Beet It
Researchers report intake of 500ml Beet It beetroot juice improves swimming performance by reducing aerobic energy cost by 10.5% and increasing workload at anaerobic threshold by 6.3%.
2015 – researchers find new ‘powers’ of Beet It Sport
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine report intake of two Beet It Sport shots increases muscle speed and power by 11% and 6%, respectively. Findings bolster the rationale for Beet It Sport use in team-sports involving speed and power.
2016 – research shows soccer players benefit from Beet It
Researchers at Maastricht University, The Netherlands, find six days intake of two Beet It Sport shots, improves exercise performance by 3.4% in trained soccer players.
2017 – Beet It Sport ties up with NN Running Team
Beet It Sport becomes an official supplier to the NN Running Team – 60 elite distance runners including marathon and half marathon world record holders Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor, respectively.
Researchers at Leeds Beckett University, find intake of two Beet It Sport shots enhances 3-km time-trial performance by 3.8% and 4.2% at 3,000m and 4,000m simulated altitude, respectively. Findings show athletes may benefit from Beet It Sport when competing at moderate and high altitude.
2018 – International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognition
NN Running Team athlete Eliud Kipchoge breaks the marathon world record in a time of 2:01:39 – Eliud drank Beet It Sport shots in the run up this race in Berlin.
Geraint Thomas wins the Tour de France – Geraint is supplied Beet It Sport shots.
The IOC consensus statement of 20 world leading sport scientists, includes 12 published research papers, all using Beet It Sport Nitrate 400 shots. The authors conclude: “Dietary nitrate supplementation has been associated with improvements of 4-25% in exercise time to exhaustion and of 1%-3% in sport-specific time trial performances lasting <40min in duration.”
2019: Breaking <2hr marathon time and new research horizons
NN Running Team athlete Eliud Kipchoge breaks the <2hr marathon world record in Vienna.
Beet It fuels the Rugby World Cup – seven of the top ten international rugby teams use Beet It Sport ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Professor Andy Jones and colleagues at the University of Exeter discover that muscle plays an important role in the transport, storage and metabolism of nitrate in humans. Research may support a rationale for athletes to gain an added benefit for consuming nitrate before and during exercise, as opposed to consuming before alone.