It doesn’t matter how good a video or an article is if you can’t get people to watch or read it. That’s why a lot of thought goes into coming up with a catchy title that grabs attention. In this case, since I’m talking about the possible health benefits of beets, the root vegetable, a headline just about writes itself. “You can’t beat beets.”
That perhaps could be true if we were talking about the advertising hype on behalf of this vegetable or the juice, powders or gummies made from it. “Boosts energy naturally,” “improves circulation,” “enhances mental clarity,” “detoxes the body,” “improves stamina” and “reduces inflammation” are some of the claims. A kernel of truth can be found in some of these claims, but when it comes to nutrient density, beets are easily beaten by kale, spinach, watercress and broccoli. That, though, doesn’t mean that the beet is a nutritional pauper. Beets are rich in nitrates (NO3-) that do have some potential benefit.
Whoa, aren’t we supposed to stay clear of processed meats because they contain nitrates? Isn’t the potential formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines from nitrates the reason that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has placed processed meats in its Category 1A, reserved for substances known to cause cancer in humans? How is it then that nitrates are reviled in ham or bacon but are welcome in beets? It all depends on the environment where nitrates are found.
There is no evidence that the naturally occurring nitrates in vegetables cause cancer. Quite the opposite. Numerous studies link vegetable consumption with a reduced risk of cancer. But the story is different when talking about nitrates added to processed meat to guard against botulism, a potentially lethal disease caused by botulin, a toxin produced by clostridium botulinum bacteria. These bacteria are ubiquitous, but they only produce their toxin under anaerobic conditions, such as inside a sausage. And quite a toxin it is! Just one gram of botulin is enough to kill millions of people.
Nitrates are actually not effective in preventing clostridium botulinum from unleashing its toxin. But nitrites (NO2-) are up to the task! As it turns out, naturally occurring bacteria in meat can convert nitrates to nitrites which are the actual preservatives. That step can be bypassed, and usually is, by adding nitrites to the meat directly. However, there is a problem here whether nitrites are directly added or come from nitrates. Nitrites have the ability to react with amines that are naturally present in meat to form carcinogenic nitrosamines!
That explains why studies have shown that consuming about 50 grams of processed meat a day over a lifetime increases the risk of colorectal cancer by 18%. That, though, is not quite as scary as it sounds. The incidence of colorectal cancer in the population is about 5%, and if that is increased by 18%, it becomes 6%. This means that if 100 people eat 50 grams of processed meat every day, one of them will get cancer due to nitrosamine consumption. On an individual level a one in a hundred risk is small but does become significant when it applies to a population.
Why does this problem not arise when eating nitrate rich vegetables such as beets? Beets accumulate a significant amount of nitrates from the soil, but they lack microbes to convert these into nitrites. Even if there were some conversion, beets, unlike meat, do not have the type of amines that are needed to form nitrosamines. Furthermore, beets also contain vitamin C and various polyphenols that inhibit nitrosamine formation. That is also the reason why ascorbic acid (vitamin C) or the closely related sodium erythrobate are commonly added to processed meat.
Now back to beets. When the nitrates they contain are ingested, enzymes in saliva convert them into nitrites which, having no amines with which to react, are converted in the stomach to nitric oxide, the chemical to which the benefits of nitrates in beets are attributed. Nitric oxide dilates blood vessels which means a reduction in blood pressure and improvement in blood flow that can result in slightly improved endurance when it comes to physical activity and perhaps somewhat faster muscle recovery. A number of studies confirm this, but they all point out that the effect is small. As far as evidence for the claims that beets, beet juice, beet powder or beet gummies can “detoxify the body,” “improve cognition,” or “boost vital energy,” well there isn’t any. All we can really say is that a cup or two of beet juice a day will not perform any miracles but may nudge blood pressure and endurance in the right direction. That’s not much to hang a hat on.
