How long does it take for beetroot juice to work? In today's article, we are going to discuss this and more.
Beetroot juice can make you feel healthier and could even help you to live longer.
But how long does it take for this detoxifying tonic to work, and can it really change your life?
Here, Femail has done the research to find out.
A study last year suggested beetroot juice can help to lower blood pressure and is full of vitamins and minerals
Can beetroot juice make you healthier?
A study last year suggested that a glass of beetroot juice once a day could make you slimmer and less likely to develop heart disease.
And another study published earlier this year suggested it could help to lower blood pressure.
Research on beetroot juice has also found it helps to lower cholesterol.
You might also feel slightly less stressed and sleep better, while a recent study found it could prevent type 2 diabetes in overweight people.
But it can be hard to get hold of beetroot juice or it might be too pricey for some people.
How long does it take for beetroot juice to work
Experts say it can take around two hours for the nutritional benefits of beetroot juice to kick in.
You could feel better within a few hours and have no side effects after a few weeks.
But it could take up to a few months for some to notice their weight and blood pressure have improved, while others may need to have more beetroot juice.
Wondering how to start drinking beetroot juice?
Drinking beetroot juice is very easy. You can make it in a blender, or you can buy bottles of concentrate.
This juice should be used in combination with exercise and reduced or eliminated alcohol intake.
HOW TO MAKE BEETROOT JUICE
Beetroot can be added to fruit or vegetable juices. Mix it into smoothies, protein shakes, or even coffee. You can also make beetroot juice at home by steeping the root in water until it forms a liquid and then drinking it.
The juice of one or two beetroots should be enough for most people.
It also comes in the form of a supplement, which is usually diluted and drunk slowly to avoid burning your throat or stomach.
Otherwise, you can drink it straight from the bottle, including in tea.
Beetroot juice in the diet
As well as beetroot juice, you could also consider juicing your food instead of eating it.
When you eat food, the enzymes in your mouth are used to break it down and produce energy.
But by taking away all the unbroken pieces of food, you have no enzymes left to break it down.
This means you could get less energy from what you eat, so may be less likely to get full.
The process of making juice also means your body doesn't get any protein or other nutrients that are naturally found in food.
This means that when you eat, you could get less energy, but it could also give you more vitamins and minerals, which is good for you.
However, this may only work for people who don't eat very often.
Would beetroot juice stop me from smoking?
Smoking is linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, and cancer, so quitting is very important.
Quitting smoking can reduce blood pressure and also improve your heart function.
Smokers should try to stop as soon as possible as any that last longer than two years increase the risk of a heart attack.
But if you have tried to quit in the past, and couldn't, drinking beetroot juice or drinking other detoxifying drinks could help.
Experiments with mice have found the juice can reduce blood flow in the bloodstream, which may make it harder for tobacco to cause damage to your body.
This means it could reduce the amount of nicotine that enters your body from the cigarette and the number of carcinogens that stay in your body for longer.
Mice exposed to nicotine were found to have shorter telomeres – the caps at the end of DNA that break down when cells divide.
Researchers believe this could be because the telomeres shortening causes cells to age faster.
The sugar alcohol quinine, which is naturally found in the plant, helps to stop the harmful chemicals from staying in the body too long.
Alongside this, the beetroot juice could also be helping to kill off the cancer-causing chemicals as it also reduces the amount of nitric oxide that the cells in the body produce.
However, it's not clear exactly how long these effects last and some experts say this isn't enough to support any long-term health claims.
Experts also say the effects of Beetroot Juice on health can't be compared to the effects of 'magic bullets' that many of us turn to in a desperate attempt to cure ailments.
They may have certain benefits, such as enhancing the effectiveness of chemotherapy, but that doesn't mean they can cure cancer or any other serious illness.
Some people are allergic to quinine so would need to be careful with any natural or healthy food drinks.
5 ways to live healthier with beetroot juice
Beets contain a variety of compounds that are good for your health. A form of vitamin C, betacarotene, reduces blood sugar levels by helping to control insulin. High levels of nitrates in beetroot can be converted to nitric oxide in your body. This molecule is the reason why your blood vessels expand when you exercise, helping to prevent heart disease.
Another example of nitrate's beneficial effects on the body is that it helps form hemoglobin, the 'red' component of your blood. Hemoglobin helps transport oxygen in your blood to every part of your body. Beetroot juice is packed with these substances and can improve your health.
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Health benefits of beetroot juice
Read on to find out the many health benefits of drinking beetroot juice and the sources of these nutrients.
- Improve your heart health
- Research has found that drinking beetroot juice can lower the risk of heart disease.
- The most important thing for a healthy heart is to keep blood flowing well to all of your vital organs.
- When you cut down on sugar and exercise, you're reducing the stress on your heart.
- Beetroot juice can also lower blood pressure and so might improve heart function.
- If you don't have an imbalance in your diet, it's possible that the extra nitrate from beetroot juice might just be helping your heart function well
- It can also help prevent the effects of high blood pressure and reduce the risk of a stroke.
- Make your hair and nails grow
- Darker red beetroots contain anthocyanins, which help to make your hair and nails grow
- As well as helping to boost the growth of hair and nails, this natural pigment may also help to reduce dryness
- Helps reduce inflammation
- Antioxidants in beetroot juice have been shown to reduce inflammation, which is the inflammation caused by infection, inflammation, and certain cancers.
- A large review of seven studies with 621 participants found that drinking beetroot juice every day reduced the risk of arthritis.
- Reducing inflammation, then, might be one way to prevent this pain and stiffness from being caused by arthritis.
- Improves brain function
- Research on rats has found that drinking beetroot juice every day reduced the level of inflammation in the rats' brains.
- Beetroot juice can help protect your skin from sun damage.
- The acidic liquid can break down free radicals in the skin, which may help to lower the risk of skin cancer
- Strengthens your bones
- Not only does beetroot juice help protect your skin from sun damage, but it also helps to strengthen your bones.
- Beets contain high levels of calcium, and most of it is bonded with magnesium.
- Helps your liver
- Beetroot juice, then, helps your liver to flush out the excess nitrates
- Drink beetroot juice to help to prevent and control the growth of cancers
- Beetroot juice can help to fight cancer
Does beetroot juice help to prevent and control the growth of cancerous cells?
This depends on which particular cancer you're referring to.
Researchers aren't totally sure, but it's thought that consuming certain compounds found in beetroot juice could help to kill some types of cancer cells.
The flavonoids in beetroot juice are also thought to act as antioxidants, which are natural substances in the body that fight against any damaging chemicals.
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How is beetroot juice involved?
- One of the best studies so far has found that eating beetroot may help to fight cancer.
- There have also been some studies that have found that drinking beetroot juice can improve your body's sensitivity to radiation.
- This is thought to be because a high concentration of nitrates is found in the juices.
However, there is still a lot of research to be done on the subject, so we're not yet able to fully explain how beetroot juice can help.
On the whole, though, the results so far seem to point toward the drink not just being a health booster, but also being able to help some types of cancer cells grow.
This could be because some cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, grow rapidly, and therefore need help from substances in the body to help them grow as well.
Eat beetroot and you can help protect your skin from the sun
It's also believed that beetroot juice can help your skin from sun damage.
When you think of vitamin D, you probably picture sun-kissed skin.
Not only does the vitamin helps to regulate your body's temperature, but it can also help to prevent skin cancer.
So, if beetroot juice can protect your skin from sun damage, then it could also help to keep your skin looking and feeling healthy.
Beetroot juice has anti-aging properties
Beetroot juice is also thought to have an anti-aging effect, according to a research study.
This is believed to be because it helps to improve the body's production of certain anti-aging proteins, such as collagen.
Collagen helps the skin stay elastic and soft, so anything that promotes the production of this protein could help the skin look younger.
Low levels of protein can be linked to wrinkles and sagging skin.
Beetroot juice can help your gut
- Beetroot juice also contains a number of essential nutrients that are important for the digestion and production of the red blood cells in the body.
- These nutrients include magnesium, potassium, and manganese, which are all essential for a healthy digestive system.
Because of this, it's thought that drinking beetroot juice might help to boost your digestive system.
For instance, a study found that drinking beetroot juice can improve the way your body absorbs iron from the diet.