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Beetroot, also called red beet or garden beet, is a cultivated form of Beta vulgaris L. in the family Amaranthaceae. It is one of the clearest examples of a common food that has also become a serious subject of nutritional and cardiovascular research.
Modern interest in beetroot centers on two very different groups of compounds. The first is dietary nitrate, which can be converted through the nitrate–nitrite–nitric-oxide pathway into nitric oxide, an important signaling molecule involved in blood-vessel tone and exercise physiology. The second is the group of red and yellow pigments called betalains, especially betanin, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in experimental systems.
Whole cooked beets, beetroot juice, concentrated “shots,” powders and standardized nitrate products are not equivalent preparations. The evidence discussed in this article depends heavily on which form was studied.
Botanical Identity
Accepted name: Beta vulgaris L.
Common cultivated subspecies: Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris
Family: Amaranthaceae
Common names: beetroot, red beet, garden beet, table beet, beet
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew recognizes Beta vulgaris as the accepted species. The species has been cultivated into several very different crop groups, including garden beet, leaf beet or chard, sugar beet and fodder beet.
Beetroot, Sugar Beet and Swiss Chard Are Related Forms
The familiar red beetroot from the vegetable garden belongs to the same species complex as sugar beet and Swiss chard. Centuries of selection produced plants emphasizing different parts:
- Garden beet / beetroot: selected for the swollen root and hypocotyl;
- Leaf beet / Swiss chard: selected for leaves and leaf stalks rather than a large root;
- Sugar beet: selected for a large pale root with high sucrose concentration;
- Fodder beet: selected largely as animal feed.
This matters when reading research because “Beta vulgaris” can refer to more than the red table beet unless the cultivar or plant part is specified.
Food History and Culinary Use
Beets have a long history as European and Mediterranean food plants. The roots may be roasted, boiled, pickled, grated raw, fermented or juiced. The leaves are also edible and can be cooked similarly to chard or spinach.
Beetroot is a classic ingredient in borscht and has become increasingly popular in sports-nutrition products because of its nitrate content.
Why Beetroot Is So Red: Betalains
Red beetroot gets its color from betalain pigments, not anthocyanins. The major red-purple pigments are called betacyanins, with betanin being especially important. Yellow-orange betalains are called betaxanthins.
A 2020 scientific review summarized antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and other experimental biological activities associated with red beetroot and betalains. Many of these findings come from laboratory or animal models, so they should not be turned into broad claims that beetroot prevents or treats cancer, diabetes or inflammatory disease.
Dietary Nitrate: The Main Cardiovascular Research Story
Beetroot is naturally rich in inorganic nitrate. After nitrate is absorbed, part of it is concentrated in saliva. Nitrate-reducing bacteria in the mouth convert nitrate to nitrite, which can then contribute to nitric-oxide formation in the body.
Nitric oxide helps regulate blood-vessel dilation, blood flow, mitochondrial function and muscle physiology. This pathway is the main reason nitrate-rich beetroot juice has been studied for blood pressure and exercise performance.
The Mouth Is Part of the Nitrate Pathway
Oral bacteria play a real physiological role in reducing nitrate to nitrite. Research has shown that strong antibacterial mouthwash can reduce salivary nitrite formation and may blunt parts of the nitrate–nitrite–nitric-oxide pathway.
That does not mean people should stop medically indicated oral care. It means the mechanism behind beetroot nitrate involves more than digestion alone and helps explain why studies sometimes control mouthwash use around nitrate testing.
Blood-Pressure Research
Blood pressure is one of the best studied human outcomes for beetroot juice.
A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis focused specifically on adults with hypertension and included 11 randomized trials with 349 participants. Nitrate-rich beetroot juice reduced clinic systolic blood pressure by about five millimeters of mercury compared with control, but did not significantly improve clinic diastolic pressure or 24-hour blood-pressure outcomes. The authors rated the certainty of evidence as low and advised cautious interpretation.
An earlier meta-analysis of randomized trials in people with hypertension likewise found a reduction in systolic blood pressure but not a clear reduction in diastolic pressure.
Broader meta-analyses including both normotensive and hypertensive adults have also reported modest reductions in resting systolic blood pressure.
Why the Blood-Pressure Evidence Is Not Perfect
Beetroot research is not uniformly positive. Some controlled trials in people already receiving blood-pressure medication have found no additional reduction in home or 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure despite clear increases in nitrate and nitrite levels.
Differences in study duration, baseline blood pressure, medication use, nitrate amount, placebo design and measurement method all influence results. Clinic measurements sometimes show larger effects than ambulatory or home measurements.
The balanced conclusion is that nitrate-rich beetroot juice can produce a modest systolic blood-pressure effect in some populations, but it is not a replacement for diagnosis, monitoring or prescribed antihypertensive therapy.
Exercise Performance
Beetroot juice has become a popular sports supplement because dietary nitrate may improve oxygen efficiency, blood flow and aspects of muscle contraction.
A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 controlled studies involving 703 healthy adults found a small statistically significant improvement in maximal or peak oxygen uptake with beetroot juice compared with placebo.
A separate 2026 meta-analysis found modest improvements across several aerobic and high-intensity exercise outcomes, while noting that athlete status, sport type, timing, product and supplementation strategy may influence the result.
This is a real evidence signal, but the effect is not dramatic and not every athlete responds equally. Highly trained athletes may respond differently from recreationally active people, and an effect found in a laboratory test does not guarantee a meaningful improvement in competition.
Food Beetroot Versus Concentrated Sports Products
A serving of roasted beets is not chemically identical to a concentrated nitrate shot. Research products may provide carefully measured amounts of nitrate in a relatively small volume.
Commercial powders and juices vary in nitrate concentration according to beet variety, farming conditions, processing, storage and manufacturing. If a product is sold specifically for nitrate-related performance effects, batch testing and disclosure of nitrate content are more informative than the word “beetroot” alone.
Betalains and Antioxidant Research
Betalains have demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions in laboratory models. Human studies of beetroot products have also measured changes in oxidative-stress and inflammatory biomarkers.
These findings help explain why beetroot is being studied beyond nitrate, but antioxidant activity should not be translated into vague claims that beets “detox the body,” reverse aging or prevent all oxidative-stress-related disease.
Beeturia: Red or Pink Urine After Beets
Some people notice pink, red or purple urine after eating beets or drinking beet juice. This is called beeturia and results from excretion of beet pigments.
Beeturia itself is usually harmless. Beet pigments can also darken or redden stool. However, unexplained blood-colored urine or stool should not automatically be blamed on beets—especially when there is pain, weakness, urinary symptoms or no recent beet intake.
Oxalates and Kidney-Stone Considerations
Beets contain naturally occurring oxalates. Most people can eat beets as part of a normal diet without concern, but people with a history of certain calcium-oxalate kidney stones may be advised to limit high-oxalate foods or pay closer attention to total dietary oxalate.
The Cleveland Clinic specifically notes beet oxalate as a consideration for people with certain kidney-stone histories. That does not mean everyone at risk for stones must automatically avoid all beets; stone prevention depends on the individual’s stone type, fluid intake, calcium intake, sodium intake and overall diet.
Low Blood Pressure and Blood-Pressure Medication
Because nitrate-rich beetroot juice can lower blood pressure in some people, concentrated juice deserves more caution in anyone who already has low blood pressure or uses blood-pressure-lowering medication.
The concern is not that ordinary beets are inherently dangerous. It is that concentrated nitrate-rich products can produce a larger exposure than a typical food serving. People using medication should not reduce or stop it simply because a beet product lowers a reading.
Dietary Nitrate Is Not the Same as Nitrate Medication
The word “nitrate” appears both in vegetable nutrition and in prescription drugs such as nitroglycerin and isosorbide preparations. They belong to related nitric-oxide biology but are not interchangeable products.
Food nitrate should not be used to replace prescribed nitrate medication, and a medication interaction should not be assumed simply because two products share the word nitrate. Clinical context, dose and pharmacology matter.
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
Beetroot is a conventional food and can be part of a varied diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding for most people. Concentrated beetroot shots, high-nitrate supplements and performance products represent a different exposure and have far less pregnancy-specific research.
Food use and supplement use should therefore be kept separate rather than applying sports-supplement study doses to pregnancy.
Blood Sugar and the “Beets Are Too Sugary” Myth
Beets contain natural carbohydrate and sugar, but they are also whole vegetables containing water, fiber and micronutrients. The nutritional effect of eating whole beetroot is different from consuming highly sweetened beet drinks or concentrated products containing added sugars.
People monitoring blood glucose should count beetroot as part of total carbohydrate intake rather than assuming either that beets are “free food” or that they must be avoided because sugar beets belong to the same species.
Growing Beetroot
Garden beets are cool-season crops that prefer loose, fertile, well-drained soil. The structure we call the beet “root” includes a swollen hypocotyl and upper root tissue.
Beets can be sown directly, and thinning is important because what looks like a single beet seed is often a clustered fruit structure capable of producing more than one seedling.
Both roots and young leaves can be harvested, making beetroot a useful dual-purpose garden vegetable.
Harvest and Storage
Roots are usually most tender when harvested before they become oversized and woody. Leaves can be harvested lightly while the root continues growing, but removing too much foliage can reduce root development.
Fresh roots store well under cool conditions, and beets can also be pickled, fermented, frozen after cooking or dehydrated.
Sourcing Beetroot Juice and Powders
For ordinary food use, whole beets require little special sourcing beyond normal food-quality standards. For concentrated products, look for:
- the botanical name Beta vulgaris;
- clear identification as root, juice, powder or extract;
- disclosed nitrate content when marketed for nitric-oxide or sports effects;
- minimal unnecessary added sugar;
- batch testing and contaminant controls for concentrated powders;
- realistic claims rather than “detox,” cure-all or guaranteed-performance promises.
Bottom Line
Beetroot is first and foremost a useful food crop, but its nitrate content gives it a legitimate place in modern cardiovascular and exercise research.
The strongest evidence suggests that nitrate-rich beetroot juice can modestly reduce systolic blood pressure in some adults and may provide small improvements in selected exercise outcomes. Betalains add a second layer of interesting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory chemistry, although much of that evidence remains preclinical.
The best modern description is: a nutritious root vegetable with unusually well-studied nitrate physiology and modest human evidence for blood-pressure and exercise effects, but not a substitute for cardiovascular treatment, a universal performance enhancer or a vague “detox” remedy.
This article is for botanical and educational purposes only and is not medical advice. Whole-food beetroot is not equivalent to concentrated nitrate-rich juice or supplement products. People with recurrent oxalate stones, low blood pressure or blood-pressure medication should consider their individual circumstances before using concentrated beetroot products.
Research & Reference Sources
- Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew — Plants of the World Online: Beta vulgaris accepted taxonomy, distribution and cultivated groups.
- Grönroos R, et al. Beetroot juice and blood pressure in adults with hypertension: systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Bahadoran Z, et al. Beetroot juice and blood pressure: systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Siervo M, et al. Inorganic nitrate and beetroot juice supplementation and blood pressure in adults.
- Hadipour E, et al. Biological effects of red beetroot and betalains: review.
- 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of beetroot juice and maximal oxygen uptake.
- Cai C, et al. 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of beetroot juice and aerobic/anaerobic exercise performance.
- Bondonno CP, et al. Randomized trial of high-nitrate beetroot juice in treated hypertension.
- Kapil V, et al. Antibacterial mouthwash, oral nitrate reduction and blood-pressure physiology.
- Cleveland Clinic: Beet nutrition, oxalate considerations and low-blood-pressure caution.