Acute Beetroot Juice Intake: Hematological, Antioxidant and Lipid Parameters in Female Athletes

One of the drinks that are increasingly popular among athletes is beetroot juice. This survey was undertaken to determine the effects of acute beetroot juice consumption on certain hematological parameters, lipid profiles, and total antioxidant capacity in female soccer players.

This was an applied, semi-experimental study. Female soccer players (n = 30, age = 23.16 ± 0.79 years) were selected randomly and assigned into three groups: experimental (beetroot juice, n = 10), (control (placebo), n = 10) and (mouth rinsing, n = 10). Subjects undertook soccer training for a session (90 min) with consumption of 200 ml juice 2 h before they started. Blood samples were collected and investigated before and after training. Paired sample t-tests were used for comparison within groups, and one-way ANOVA was used for comparison between groups. All statistical analyses were performed at P ≤ 0.05.

After a session of using beetroot juice, there were no significant differences in blood indices (levels of hemoglobin, hematocrit, red blood cells, iron, and mean corpuscular volume), lipid profiles (triglycerides, total cholesterol, and high density lipoprotein), and total antioxidant capacity between groups (experimental, control, and mouth rinsing) (P > 0.05), but low density lipoprotein concentrations changed significantly (P < 0.0001).

Drinking a dose of beetroot juice did not improve hematological parameters, lipid profiles, and total antioxidant capacity. Therefore, our study of daily consumption of this drink will be pointed out to subsequent researchers.