The list of “Super foods” for teenagers includes tomatoes, oats, blueberries, salmon, kale, broccoli, black beans, etc. But research shows Beets should also be added to this list.
Research shows beetroots can boost stamina and helping you exercise longer, improve blood flow, decrease the risk of teenage obesity, diabetes, improve heart function, reduce inflammation and increase cognitive function.
Beet juice may prove its value when you need a boost to make it through an intense workout. If one drinks beet juice or a beet smoothie prior to exercise, people were able to work out for up to 16% longer. Why? This is mainly because beets are rich in a natural chemical called nitrate, which our body changes into nitric oxide through a chain reaction. Nitric acid is highly corrosive, and decomposes into oxides of nitrogen and oxygen. Nitric oxide helps improve our blood flow may reduce the oxygen cost of both low-intensity and also high-intensity exercise. A study shows that beetroot juice improved performance by 2.8% (11 seconds) in a 4-km timed bicycle trial by a whopping 2.7% (45 seconds) in 16.1-km time trial.
Beets can also help us fight inflammation, because it is a source of nutrient called betaine. Betaine helps protect our body’s enzymes, cells, and proteins from environmental stress. Because of these properties, they can help to protect our organs, improve our response to fight inflammation, and help prevent lots of chronic disease.
In addition to Betaine, beets contains lots of vitamin C, fiber and essential minerals. These nutrients can boost our immune system and helps to prevent constipation and promote regularity for a healthy digestive tract. Beets and their Vitamin C will then support our liver’s phase 2 detoxification process. The phase 2 detoxification process breaks down toxins and bonds them to other molecules then they can be excreted from our body. In doing so, beets can help purify our liver and blood .
If you start drinking beet juice soon, you should not be surprised that it is making your urine and stools look very red. That is normal and it’s not because you are bleeding, but because the beetroots are doing serious work inside of you.
