Development of a beetroot-based nutritional gel containing high content of bioaccessible dietary nitrate and antioxidants

Abstract

Beetroot, a food rich in nitrate and antioxidants has gained attention because of its potential effect on improving cardiovascular health and exercise performance. This work had the purpose of developing a beetroot-based nutritional gel (BG) and estimating the in vitro bioaccessibility of the nitrate, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total phenolic (TP) and potassium content, as compared to beetroot juice (BJ). Nitrate was assessed by a high-performance liquid chromatography system, TAC was assessed using the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assay and TP was measured using the Folin-Ciocalteu method before and after an in vitro digestion. Significantly higher values of nitrate, TEAC, TP and potassium before and after digestion were observed in BG as compared to BJ. The results suggest a new nutritional strategy to give high contents of bioaccessible nutrients (nitrate, antioxidants and potassium) that are potentially relevant to improve cardiovascular health and exercise performance.

Functional properties of beetroot (Beta vulgaris) in management of cardio-metabolic diseases

“…Beetroot is consist of multiple biologically active phytochemicals including betalains [8] (e.g., betacyanins and betaxanthins), flavonoids, polyphenols, Saponins [8] and inorganic Nitrate (NO 3 ); it is also a rich source of diverse minerals such as potassium, sodium, phosphorous, calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, zinc and manganese [9]. It is commonly consumed in form of supplemental juice, powder, bread, gel, boiled, oven-dried, pickled, pureed or jam-processed across different food cultures [1,10,11]. As shown in Table 1, 100 mL of beetroot juice is comprised of 95 Kcal energy, 22.6 g carbohydrates, 0.70 g proteins, 0.16 g total lipids, 0.91 g total dietary fiber and 12 g total sugars.…”

Beetroot-based gel supplementation improves handgrip strength and forearm muscle O2 saturation but not exercise tolerance and blood volume in jiu-jitsu athletes

“…This may increase the ability of the nitrate present in the beetroot to reduce to nitrite in the oral cavity by the enzymatic action of nitrate reductase via oral commensal bacteria. Therefore, the BG could be an alternative and convenient source for consuming dietary nitrate (Morgado et al, 2016). Therefore, the main purpose of the present study was to evaluate if BG supplementation may speed up forearm muscle isometric strength after three sets of handgrip exercise in Jiu-Jitsu trained athletes.…”

“…Recently, we developed a beetroot-based gel (BG) rich in nitrate as a new nutritional strategy to increase dietary nitrate ingestion (Morgado et al, 2016) and we demonstrated positive effect on endothelial function, which was associated with bioconversion of nitrate to NO (Oliveira et al, 2016). The consistency of the beetrootbased gel is likely to increase the amount of time and mouth contact associated with the ingestion of nitrate.…”

“…The first visit was used to enrollment voluntaries, explain the experimental procedures, blood collect for biochemical analyses (T0), and randomization into either a 100 g of beetroot-based nutritional gel (BG) containing 12.2±0.2 mmol of nitrate or a 100 g of control nitratedepleted gel (PLA) containing 0.2±0.02 mmol of nitrate. The BG and PLA were prepared according to Oliveira et al (2016) and Morgado et al (2016). The second visit was used to measure forearm muscle isometric strength (T0), familiarization with rhythmic handgrip exercise and delivery of the nutritional supplementation for 7 consecutive days.…”

Red Beet (<i>Beta vulgaris</i>) Impact on Human Health

“…The effect of raw beet juice and cooked beets on blood pressure of hypertensive subjects also has been tested [18]. Although both formulations of beetroot were effective in improving blood pressure, endothelial function and systemic inflammation, the raw beetroot juice had a greater antihypertensive effect.…”