What to Know About the Health Benefits of Beets—From Your Muscles to Your Heart
ilietus/Getty Images/Amanda K Bailey
With their colorful exteriors, beets can certainly brighten up any dinner plate. But they don’t skimp on substance, either. Turns out, there are a ton of health benefits of beets that scientists are only just starting to understand—perks that can boost everything from your heart health to your next workout.
“Beets are really a highly nutritious food,” Carrie Durward, PhD, RD, extension nutrition specialist and associate professor at Utah State University, tells SELF. Yes, they’re packed with fiber, but they’re also a “great source” of minerals like potassium, calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc, she says. They also pack a solid amount of manganese, a mineral that can support cell and bone health, reproduction, immune function, and blood clotting.
And good news if you’re a beet beginner: They’re more versatile than you may think too. From salads to smoothies, there are actually tons of ways to add the veggie to your meals. For all the intel on the health benefits of beetroot, plus the tastiest ways to eat it that can’t be, um, beat, keep on reading.
1. They’re good for your digestion.
Like many vegetables, beets are high in fiber: Just a half cup of beet slices contains 1.7 grams (g) of it—around 7% of the recommended daily intake (28 g) for people eating around 2,000 calories a day. (And, we should add, a solid percentage of the actual daily intake for most folks: Currently, the average American adult only manages 15 grams or so.)
Besides keeping you full, fiber can also help your digestive system hum along a little better. Eat enough, and your trips to the toilet will likely be shorter, smoother, and just less of a slog. “By bulking up our stools, [fiber] makes it easier for things to move through and for us to be regular,” Dr. Durward says. Read: less risk of constipation. (Just be aware that there’s a chance the pigments in beets might turn your poop and pee red. This is called beeturia, and it’s usually nothing to worry about.)
Fiber plays other important roles too. Besides supporting overall gut health—those healthy probiotic bacteria dwelling in your intestines love a prebiotic, roughage-rich snack—and helping you stay satisfied, fiber may also reduce inflammation and lower your risk of health conditions like heart disease, stroke, and even some kinds of cancer.
How you prep your beets matters a lot, though, according to Dr. Durward. Juicing, for example, actually removes most of the fiber, so if you go that route “you’re not going to get the same benefits” you would if you chose solid beets or even a beet smoothie, Dr. Durward says.
2. They’re high in antioxidants, which can have bodywide benefits.
That colorful exterior serves more than an aesthetic purpose, Emily Van Eck, MS, RDN, an Austin-based dietitian nutritionist, tells SELF. Bright hues signal that a fruit or veggie is packed with some combination of phytonutrients, beneficial plant compounds that are also known as phytochemicals or antioxidants, according to the USDA.
Take betalains, for example, according to Van Eck. These natural pigments are not only responsible for the brilliant tint of red beets, they have also been linked to a wide range of positive health effects, including reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular diseases, and other conditions. “Having beets in your diet on a fairly regular basis can give you all of those benefits,” Van Eck says.
Another important feature of antioxidants: their anti-inflammatory properties. In a study of people with osteoarthritis, researchers found that a red beet extract packed with betalains was effective at reducing the pain and discomfort associated with the degenerative joint disease.
3. Beets might take your workout to the next level—and help you feel better afterward.
Want to PR? The effects of beetroot juice just may extend to athletic performance. One 2017 review, for example, concluded that it may increase speed, delay fatigue, and boost cardiorespiratory endurance during a workout.
Dietary nitrates in the beets could be responsible for these exercise benefits, Dr. Durward says. When those compounds are ingested, they can eventually be converted to nitric oxide. That, in turn, can increase blood flow and oxygen delivery to tissues, ultimately enabling your body to operate more efficiently.
What’s more, beets might also be able to soothe the physical side effects of such intense exercise, helping you recover better. According to a 2022 review of nine studies, consuming beetroot juice or beet capsules has the potential to reduce muscle soreness, possibly due to the antioxidant content and anti-inflammatory properties.
4. They might help reduce your blood pressure too.
And the perks associated with nitrates don’t end there—they can also help combat high blood pressure, or hypertension, “which puts strain on the heart, damages the blood vessels themselves, and can impair kidney function if left untreated,” Van Eck says.
A 2013 review of 16 clinical trials linked diets rich in nitrate-heavy food products (like beetroot juice) to lower systolic blood pressure. And since high blood pressure is a major risk factor for cardiovascular events like strokes and heart attacks, a 2018 review concluded that dietary nitrates could significantly reduce the chances of dying from those kinds of conditions.
So how does this work? Researchers believe dietary nitrates can enhance vasodilation (or the widening of blood vessels), allowing blood to flow through more easily.
What are some ways to work beets into your diet?
While research on the health benefits of beets is still in the early stages, it’s showing a lot of promise—and in some cases, the results are “more along the lines of what you would get from an herb or a drug than what we would typically expect from a food in general,” Dr. Durward says.
However, that doesn’t mean you should start eating beets as often as you possibly can, according to Dr. Durward. For one, because they’re fiber-rich, scarfing a bunch all of a sudden can cause GI issues, like uncomfortable bloating or gas. And downing a bunch of beet capsules or other kinds of supplementation isn’t the best idea either: That’s because you’re loading up on just one ingredient and missing out on all the other good stuff that would otherwise be found in that food, as well as “the way in which the various components might work together,” Dr. Durward says. Plus, taking in too many nitrates could be harmful too. Pushing past the recommended daily limit could allow potentially cancer-causing compounds to form, according to a 2021 review.
Instead, think about how you can work the root vegetable into your everyday meals. Despite what you might think, borscht—the iconic Ukrainian soup—isn’t your only option. Shredded or pickled beets make a delicious addition to salads or sandwiches, Van Eck says. She likes to meal-prep hers in advance so they’re ready to go at lunchtime. And cooked beets can be just as tasty as raw ones. Roasting them not only brings out their latent sweetness, Dr. Durward says, it also makes them “crunchy on the outside and nice and smooth on the inside.”
You can also experiment with some less conventional beet recipes—like beet hummus and baked goods made with beet purée. And, if you’re really having a tough time with beet-y textures, you can always try blending diced chunks into a veggie smoothie, along with a tablespoon or two of honey or oatmeal to soften that earthy taste. Not only will you be doing your body good, but thanks to those betalain pigments, the final product will be so photogenic you’ll want to post it ASAP.
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Originally Appeared on SELF
