​Surprising but true—drinking a beet shot before your workout can boost your endurance and power

I am haunted by memories of the pickled beets I was made to eat by my mom when I was a child, so I was surprised to see beets start trending on social media.

More than 1.5 million hashtags are dedicated to #beetroot, and 81 thousand to #beetrootjuice across social media.

The appeal is in part down to the antioxidant properties of beets, which can support a healthy gut. Beets are also rich in dietary nitrates, which the body converts into nitric oxide to help improve blood flow.

But can they make a difference to your workout? A new review has given a surprisingly definitive answer: yes, drinking beet juice before exercise could give your workout a boost, but experts say that’s only if you get the dose and timing right.

The 2026 review pooled 33 studies involving 519 professional and amateur athletes across a range of sports. It found that beet juice “modestly improved” aerobic capacity and produced somewhat larger, although still modest, improvements in high-intensity (anaerobic) exercise performance and power output.

Aerobic exercise is physical activity that relies mainly on oxygen to produce energy—think brisk walking, and steady running, swimming and rowing.

Anaerobic exercise employs a different energy system, one that doesn’t use oxygen, to power short, intense movement, like sprinting.

One interesting finding from the review was that the biggest effect wasn’t on endurance but on power.

Across the 33 studies, the researchers found that beet juice doesn’t just help with aerobic capacity, there may also be a modest boost to how much power you can produce during high-intensity exercise.

And to reinforce the validity of the claims, the authors noted that the findings were also remarkably consistent between studies.

“Beet juice is rich in dietary nitrate, which is converted in the body into nitric oxide,” explains registered dietitian nutritionist Theresa Gentile, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

And it’s the increase in nitric oxide production—triggered by the nitrates in beet juice—that may support exercise performance, explains Gentile.

“This is a molecule that widens blood vessels, improves blood flow, enhances muscle oxygen use, and may improve muscle contraction and delay fatigue.”

The result? Your muscles may use oxygen more efficiently, potentially helping you sustain exercise for longer before fatigue kicks in.

According to Gentile, beet juice may “modestly improve endurance and high-intensity performance, particularly in recreationally active individuals.”

I spoke to her to find out who is most likely to benefit, how much beet juice you need to drink to make a difference and when to take it for the best results.

How much beet juice or nitrate do people need to consume to potentially see benefits?

Gentile says that sports-specific beet shots are more likely to provide enough nitrate to be effective compared with ordinary beet juice.

“Many sports-specific beet shots provide a standardized, research-backed dose of nitrate in a small volume,” she says.

“Many grocery store beet shots, however, can vary widely in nitrate content and may not contain enough to produce the performance benefits seen in studies.

“The nitrate content of ordinary beet juice can also vary depending on the beets and processing.”

So how much is enough? “Most research suggests consuming 5-9 mmol of nitrate (about 300-600 mg), although some recent evidence indicates that 8.3-16.4 mmol (515-1,017 mg) may produce greater performance benefits,” says Gentile.

“This typically requires one high-nitrate beet shot or a larger serving of nitrate-rich beet juice—depending on the product's nitrate content.”

Shop sports beets shots

Both of these shots are only available in the U.K. at time of publication. Beet It Sport will be available in the U.S. sometime in November on its website and Amazon.

How long before exercise should someone consume beet juice?

“Research suggests taking beet juice two to three hours before exercise, when nitrate levels have been converted to nitric oxide and are near their peak,” says Gentile.

While this timing will be tricky for those who, like me, favour a morning workout, there is some evidence that regularly taking beet juice in the days before a race could also be beneficial.

“Some studies also show benefits from taking it daily for at least three days before an event, although an acute dose two to three hours before exercise appears to be the most practical and consistently effective strategy,” says Gentile.

There may be benefits beyond exercise too. Beet juice—as well as regularly consuming nitrate-rich vegetables such as arugula and spinach—may also have cardiovascular benefits.

Gentile says this can help “by improving blood vessel function and modestly lowering blood pressure, particularly in people with hypertension.”

But she says more research is needed to determine the “optimal long-term dose and whether routine beet juice supplementation offers additional benefits beyond eating a healthy, vegetable-rich diet.”