Drinking beetroot juice before exercise can boost heart function in COPD patients

A new study has recently revealed that beetroot juice before exercise can boost heart function in COPD patients.

A Wake Forest University study to investigate the effects of acute beetroot juice ingestion on the exercise capacity of COPD patients showed some promise, but a larger clinical trial would be needed to verify results.

COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, makes it difficult for patients to breathe and worsens over time. Patients often complain of shortness of breath with exertion, so tasks like climbing steps can leave them gasping for air. In turn, they tend to limit their activities, become more sedentary, and lose fitness and physical function.

Michael Berry said that the study findings showed overall that those patients who drank beetroot juice were able to extend their exercise time, and had reduced exercise diastolic and resting systolic blood pressures.

This was the first study to demonstrate beneficial effects of dietary nitrite supplementation on exercise performance and blood pressure in patients with COPD, he further added.

The study is published in the journal Nitric Oxide: Biology and Chemistry.