Performance · 7 min read

Beetroot Juice for Endurance: VO₂ Max and Running Economy

What beet juice does for endurance, sprint power and recovery, who responds best, and how to time your dose before training or racing.

Last updated October 9, 2026 • Reviewed by Dr. A. Reviewer, M.Sc. Nutrition • Based on peer-reviewed sources

Short answer: Nitrate lowers the oxygen cost of exercise, so the same pace feels a little easier.^{[Bailey et al., 2009 10; Jones, 2014 3]}

Key takeaways

✓Nitrate lowers the oxygen cost of exercise, so the same pace feels a little easier.^{[Bailey et al., 2009 10; Jones, 2014 3]}
✓Gains are small but consistent — and larger in recreational than in elite athletes.^{[Qin et al., 2026 20; Silva et al., 2022 44]}
✓Take ~400–800 mg nitrate 2–3 hours before, or daily for 3–7 days.^{[Wylie et al., 2013 5; Tian et al., 2025 19]}

Why it works

Extra nitric oxide improves blood flow to working muscles and makes energy production more efficient, reducing the oxygen needed for a given effort.^{[Jones, 2014 3; Bailey et al., 2009 10]}

Nitrite converts to nitric oxide most readily in low-oxygen conditions — exactly what happens in hard-working, fast-twitch muscle.^{[Lundberg et al., 2008 6; Lee et al., 2026 47]}

What the research shows

An umbrella review of 20 meta-analyses found nitrate improves several performance measures, with small effect sizes.^{[Poon et al., 2025 42]}

Meta-analyses report better time to exhaustion and a small increase in VO₂ max.^{[Senefeld et al., 2020 45; Gao et al., 2021 46; Qin et al., 2026 20]}

Repeated sprints and short all-out efforts also improve in several trials.^{[Domínguez et al., 2018 49; Domínguez et al., 2017 36]}

Who benefits most

Recreational athletes respond more than highly trained ones, who already produce lots of nitric oxide.^{[Silva et al., 2022 44; Qin et al., 2026 20]}

Responders and non-responders are common; mouth bacteria and baseline fitness both matter.^{[Olsson et al., 2019 48; Zoughaib et al., 2024 43]}

A simple protocol

Race day: about 400–800 mg nitrate 2–3 hours before the start.^{[Wylie et al., 2013 5]}

Loading: the same amount daily for 3–7 days before a key event gives the most consistent results.^{[Tian et al., 2025 19; Qin et al., 2026 20]}

Recovery: juice after hard eccentric exercise reduced soreness and sped recovery of jump performance.^{[Clifford et al., 2016 21]}

Avoid antibacterial mouthwash around your dose.^{[Kapil et al., 2013 7]}

Educational information only — not medical advice. Talk to your clinician before changing your diet or medication.

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References17 peer-reviewed sourcesShow all

3.Jones AM. Dietary nitrate supplementation and exercise performance. Sports Med. 2014;44(Suppl 1):S35–S45. View source
5.Wylie LJ, et al. Beetroot juice and exercise: pharmacodynamic and dose-response relationships. J Appl Physiol. 2013;115(3):325–336. View source
6.Lundberg JO, Weitzberg E, Gladwin MT. The nitrate–nitrite–nitric oxide pathway in physiology and therapeutics. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2008;7(2):156–167. View source
7.Kapil V, et al. Physiological role for nitrate-reducing oral bacteria in blood pressure control. Free Radic Biol Med. 2013;55:93–100. View source
10.Bailey SJ, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2009;107(4):1144–1155. View source
19.Tian C, et al. Effects of beetroot juice on physical performance in athletes and healthy individuals: an umbrella review. Nutrients. 2025. View source
20.Qin G, et al. Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on maximal oxygen uptake: systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 studies. Front Nutr. 2026. View source
21.Clifford T, et al. The effects of beetroot juice supplementation on indices of muscle damage following eccentric exercise. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2016;116(2):353–362. View source
36.Domínguez R, et al. Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on a 30-s high-intensity inertial cycle ergometer test. Nutrients. 2017;9(12):1360. View source
42.Poon ET, et al. Dietary nitrate supplementation and exercise performance: an umbrella review of 20 published systematic reviews with meta-analyses. 2025. View source
43.Zoughaib WS, et al. Beetroot juice supplementation and exercise performance: is there more to the story than just nitrate? 2024. View source
44.Silva KV, et al. Factors that moderate the effect of nitrate ingestion on exercise performance in adults: systematic review with meta-analyses and meta-regressions. Adv Nutr. 2022. View source
45.Senefeld JW, et al. Ergogenic effect of nitrate supplementation: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2020. View source
46.Gao C, et al. The effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on endurance exercise performance and cardiorespiratory measures in healthy adults: systematic review and meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021. View source
47.Lee E, et al. Beetroot juice and exercise for clinical health and athletic performance: a narrative review. 2026. View source
48.Olsson H, et al. Physiological effects of beetroot in athletes and patients. Cureus. 2019. View source
49.Domínguez R, et al. Effects of beetroot juice supplementation on intermittent high-intensity exercise efforts. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2018. View source

Claims marked [*] are awaiting a verified source.