Vegetable EPO: The juice that improves muscle strength and allows athletes to perform better

Such is the fame of this juice that some ironically call it natural EPO or ‘veggie’. EPO is the abbreviation for erythropoietin, a hormone secreted by our body that regulates the formation of red blood cells. In severe cases of anemia, it is used as a treatment. But a few years ago, it became fashionable in the sporting underworld and some doctors fraudulently injected it into athletes to obtain better results. For a time it was also undetectable in anti-doping tests.

The use of beets is legal and its operation is a bit similar to what EPO does: it acts as a “vasodilator” and is capable of “increasing blood flow at the muscular level”, that is, it facilitates the arrival of oxygen to the muscle, explains Iva Marques, graduate in Nutrition, doctor in Pharmacy, teacher and member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The mechanism by which it achieves this is complex, but roughly explained, it has to do with the high inorganic nitrate content of the vegetable. Once we drink the juice and metabolize it, it is converted into nitric oxide, which is present in many physiological functions, including improving blood perfusion and vascular dilation.

The prestigious Australian Institute of Sport, a world leader in the matter, includes it in its legal and permitted supplementation program for athletes. This is a guide for athletes that presents the different sports and food supplements on the market and for which discipline they are most suitable. Beet juice is part of group A (there are three more). which groups together the most used and safest aids. The document also indicates how much to take them.

Is there, therefore, scientific evidence of the effects of this juice on sports practice? Marques answers clearly: yes. There are many published studies, although, as often happens in these cases, scientists consider that there is a lack of work in certain areas. The last one was announced in January of last year. It was led by professor at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, Andy Jones.

For six days in a row, he gave organic beet juice to ten healthy volunteers. Then, he asked them to perform a leg exercise: 60 quadriceps contractions on a machine at maximum intensity. In the conclusions of the study, a significant increase in nitrate levels in the muscle was reported, which when doing the exercises caused an increase in muscle strength of 7% compared to when those volunteers took a placebo.

team sports

“Nitrates seem to increase the function of type II muscle fibers, with the consequent lower energy expenditure,” explains Raúl López-Gueso, dietitian-nutritionist, doctor in Physiology and also member of the Spanish Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. So “it would improve performance in long-duration sports, but also in team sports due to greater involvement of intermittent high-intensity effort.” According to the expert, it would delay fatigue between 4 and 25%. Likewise, “a positive effect has also been seen in explosive and strength-power sports.”

At the end of 2023, another study was published in which it was also found that drinking beet juice was good for those suffering from COPD after a twelve-week experiment with those affected by this serious lung disease: a reduction in blood pressure and a increased distance that those who took the juice could walk compared to those who did not. Of course, Professor Nicholas Hopkinson and his team at Imperial College London, in charge of the project, recognized that these “very promising results should be confirmed with larger, long-term studies.”

In fact, an area in which more research is needed is the negative effects that eating certain amounts of beets can cause given their contribution of nitrates. For example, it is recommended to monitor its consumption in those who have kidney or liver problems. And precisely for this reason it is not advisable to use supplements without professional supervision.