Anyone taking nitric oxide/beetroot juice? Thoughts?

I actually judged a high science fair project on this issue a few weeks ago. The student was concerned about PED use among high school athletes seeking "the next level". The student wanted to know if beet juice would be a viable natural alternative. Statistically insignificant results, but not for a lack of trying. The student encountered some difficulties with respect to a control group, and the right equipment to measure performance, and ensuring the ingestion of the beet juice was consistent relative to the timing of the period of performance. My takeaway of concern was the PED use among the high school students, which use was also conveyed to me another teen not at all associated with the science fair student.

The would be high school science fair. No one that I know of was high at the science fair.

Funny typo! lol

i used to take beetroot powder and L-citrulline before runs and had to stop because it was making me very light-headed, to the point I thought I would pass out.

L-citrulline promotes nitric oxide production in the body.

At what level of synthetic chemical supplementation does one transition from a human to an android?

OP here. Two and a half years ago, I tried beetroot juice. I think it was the Lakewood brand @$8/bottle. It was recommended somewhere as being "better" than other juices. Anyway, the taste was awful, but I had heard about it and thought I'd give it a try. Subjectively, I couldn't any difference in my workout performance. I vaguely remember that the juice would make me a little nauseous for a while.

Yep. Beet root powder has a significant affect on my blood pressure. From high 120s/low 130s into the teens. Historically I've always had much higher blood pressure for hours and hours after hard workouts (into 140s), and beet root powder helps significantly with that.

I have both bulk powder from amazon and the human n brand for "performance." Performance-wise it does not work well for me in hot/humid conditions. Seems to make my hr and rpe higher, even if my bp is still a bit lower. But again, the after effects of continuously lower bp is great.

I’ve taken the supplement from SNAC or SNAP fitness, Conte/Balco. Anyway, no joke, helps with ED, you’ll notice more morning wood for sure. didn’t notice much for cardio performance.

In my experience Neo40 works as advertised. There are also many benefits beyond normalizing BP.

I had some experience with it on my XC/Track team. We kind of experimented with it together, since it's natural and supposedly could improve performance capacity for workouts and races--although there doesn't seem to be a ton of science on it.

We tried beetroot powder mixed with water, beetroot gummies, chews, etc. Not really sure about what brands. Most of the time we used the powder, but some people hated the taste of the powder and preferred to use the chews or gummies. Not sure if there's a significant difference between the three kinds. We would take it 3-4 hrs before hard workouts and before races.

I will come out and say that some people did not notice an effect at all and preferred not to take it. I can't really remember if anyone had a negative side effect from it (like light-headedness), but it's possible maybe one or two people did.

For those who did feel a positive effect from it (maybe about 10 of a 30 person team, both boys and girls), they said that the beetroot helped them to sustain their effort for a longer period of time. It did not give them an extra boost of energy like caffeine would (which we sometimes used as well), but that it allowed them to remain "comfortable" for longer in a high effort state. We understood this to mean that, since it helps with vessel elasticity, it made it easier for blood to circulate through the body and made something feel "easier" than it may have felt without the beetroot. I am speaking very non-scientifically because I don't have good scientific knowledge. But it was especially helpful for tempo-type workouts and for long distance races. Our mid-D guys who did a lot of interval work didn't see as much benefit from it, I think.

Just my observations from our experience with it.

I will also say that, after training very minimally for a turkey trot 8k last fall (and thinking the night before I was going to run a pretty embarrassing time), I took some beetroot chews 4 hrs before the race and ended up PR'ing. This is obviously very speculative to say this, but I definitely think taking the beetroot helped me to feel comfortable racing at a pace way faster than my pace in workouts.

I've never used nitric oxide/beetroot juice but instead use DHEA as part of my daily supplement regimen.

There's good research including this RCT showing DHEA supplementation can significantly reduce arterial stiffness.

I'm 62 & have had a cardio workup where my heart & arterial integrity is good (due to post-traumatic OA, I don't compete in running events anymore but occasionally run recreationally).

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ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Dehydroepiandrosterone replacement therapy in older adults improves indices of arterial stiffness

Serum dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) concentrations decrease ~80% between ages 25 and 75 yr. Aging also results in an increase in arterial stiffness, which is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk and m...

Link:www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3...