1. Beets Limitations To Support Blood Flow
Beets (A.K.A. red beetroot) are a commonly known member of the amaranth family, which also includes red spinach, green spinach, and Swiss chard. These widely known red leafy and green veggies are considered a superfood, mainly because they contain high amounts of plant-based nitrates essential for blood flow & cardiovascular health. Beets, however, have the lowest amounts of nitrates of all those mentioned veggies.
So, how is it possible people think red beets are the best? Beets have been studied the most of all nitrate-based veggies because of two factors:
- They are cheap
- They are widely available
When it comes to increasing nitric oxide and supporting blood flow, beets show they work, primarily when combined with synthetic nitrates, as beets alone are inconsistent in nature and cannot provide the needed amount of nitrates you would need to increase nitric oxide unless you drink liters of beet juice at once which contains too much sugar and can give other unwanted side effects. More on that hereIt comes down to the fact that beets are not standardized to a specific % of nitrates, and that becomes problematic when you need an essential dose of plant-based nitrates to produce nitric oxide( 300-600mg of nitrates is a typical dose seen in supplement research studies.)
For clarification purposes, here are some examples of the variability of nitrates in beet-related products often purchased by people to support blood flow & cardiovascular health.
- Beet juice may be standardized naturally to a maximum of 2% nitrates and has 20 grams of sugar per serving with almost no ability to change your physiology besides increasing your energy due to the sugar content.
- Eating raw or cooked beets vs. other plant-based nitrate sources: You may have to eat 2-3 large red beets at once vs. 6.5 oz of arugula to get the same nitrate levels. Remember, as already mentioned, because beets are inconsistent in nature, each beet can have different nitrate levels. That's why someone from California may eat four beets, and someone from Florida may need only three red beets to get the same amount of nitrates.
- Beet supplement nitrate standardization goes down depending on the form of beet you consume. The more the beet vegetable is processed, the less natural nitrates it will have. For example, red beet alone may start with 2% nitrate. Still, when it's converted to beet powder or beet extract, at that point, the standardization could go down to 1.5% or even lower. When you take that beet extract in powder form and then make a beet juice powder out of it, it may go down to something like 0.5% at that point and have no nitrate value.
Yes, that is how nitrate content varies in beet products and beets alone.A lot goes into the standardization of any fruit or vegetable. It all depends on harvest times, temperature, humidity, soil quality, storage conditions after harvesting, and the production processes. To keep the standardization at higher levels, what do companies do? For example, they add synthetics like sodium nitrate to spike the nitrate levels. It might be helpful to look at the beet-based product comparison from the Gallardo & Coggan Chartto see the differences between the nitrate levels in different beet related products.
Because of this variant, many beet supplements don't list the nitrate content, primarily if their product is only based on beets.
To learn more about beets, read our article
2. Superfoods Better Than Beets For Blood Flow
After reading so much about nitrates and their vital levels in supporting blood flow, you will see plant-based foods with higher nitrate content below.
Superfoods Rivaling Beets for Blood Flow
- Red spinach is a very potent nitrate-based vegetable. It is usually not available in stores as it is grown in India. Red spinach extract made of red spinach leaves (used in resync products) is standardized to 9% nitrates. That is almost 5x more nitrates than in red beet alone. Resync was the first company to use Red spinach in all Resync products to support blood flow for athletes' recovery. To learn more about the cardiovascular benefits of Red spinach, check our blog here.
- Green-leafy veggies like Arugula and Swiss chard are nutrient-dense and richer in dietary nitrates than red beets.
Besides red spinach and nitrates levels, other red veggies are very beneficial for your heart health. To check the top list of red fruits and vegetables for your heart health, check our blog here.
- Aronia berries (Chokeberry), are one of the healthiest (not sweet) berries the mother nature offers. This is based on the fact that Chokeberry has powerful antioxidant properties, higher than in most berries. These properties can be attributed to Aronia's anti-inflammatory phenolic compounds called anthocyanins. These compounds are known to improve blood vessel function, promoting healthy circulation. To learn more about Aronia, read our article here
