Beet greens are a real superfood for every athlete. Three recipes prepared by a dietitian that will make you fall for beet leaves

Beet greens are a “natural doping agent” for sports enthusiasts They contain nitrates and nitrites that support the production of nitric oxide, a chemical that directly contributes to improving sports performance. The benefits of beet greens will be most appreciated by footballers, volleyball players, and shorter-distance runners (5-10 km). Find out why beet greens are great for you, even if you stay active mostly for fun and good health.

Anna Urbańska

Nitrates in beet greens – a natural doping agent for athletes 

If you’ve heard that beetroot juice enhances athletic performance, you already know a lot about the benefits of beet greens in sports. Beet greens and beetroot share a very similar mechanism of action: improved nitric oxide production during exercise. 

Nitric oxide (NO) is a compound that causes blood vessels to widen, improves oxygenation of body cells, and directly supports athletic performance. Higher nitric oxide levels translate into improved oxygen access to cells, which is important during exercise. Nitric oxide provides you with tangible benefits during sports exercise. It is known to improve exercise adaptation by: 

  • modulating blood flow, 
  • improving muscle contractility, 
  • increasing glucose uptake by body cells, 
  • enhancing cellular respiration. 

This reduces oxygen demand and improves exercise performance at the cellular level. As a result, you can get the same effect with less effort. This is especially important for people doing anaerobic exercise such as sprint workouts, interval training, HIIT or weight lifting.  

It doesn’t only sound good in theory – it works well in real life, too! The beneficial effects of nitrates on athletic performance have been proven in multiple studies. [1,2,4]  You already know that it’s a good thing to have an elevated NO level if you exercise. However, nitric oxide is chemically unstable, so it must be synthesized in blood vessels at a given time. You can’t supply it with food or supplements to “stock up” because your body is unable to store it for later use. Nitric oxide is produced naturally by the oxidation of L-arginine, one of the amino acids supplied to the body with food. However, the conversion of L-arginine to nitric oxide (NO) is most efficient under aerobic conditions. When you perform vigorous anaerobic exercise, such as fast swimming or sprinting, your cells can run out of oxygen for the synthesis of NO. But there is another, better way for your body to produce NO efficiently: you can get it from nitrites and nitrates supplied with food, such as beet greens and beetroot juice. 

Beet greens are a particularly nitrate-rich food. Beets are generally known for being packed with nitrates and nitrites, but these compounds are most abundant in beet stalks, leaves and stems, that is beet greens. [4]