Gold, silver and bronze might be the star colours at the Olympics. But once again, many of the athletes will rely on the colour purple for a magical boost.

Since 2018, when the International Olympic Committee – citing good evidence – formally recognised beetroot as a legitimate sports food, the tongue-staining root vegetable has attained a touch of glamour.

Many of the studies into beetroot juice – including a 2015 experiment involving Australian kayakers – has focused on how it boosts athletic performance.

You’d be forgiven thinking beetroot juice is the food of the gods … and probably doesn’t do quite as much good for mere mortals.

Not true!

Beetroot does wonders for regular folk.

There are studies that suggest beetroot juice is good for lowering cholesterol. It also supports liver health. It quickly improves muscle performance in people suffering heart failure. And it’s a good source of folate and potassium.

A 2016 study found that drinking beetroot juice every day improved exercise endurance by 24 per cent and significantly reduced resting systolic blood pressure in elderly patients.

The marvel of beetroot juice is how quickly it can lower blood pressure, and support neurotransmission (the firing of chemical messages in the brain).

The magic ingredients are high levels of nitrates. During digestion, these are converted into nitric oxide, a compound that relaxes and widens blood vessels. In other words, it does a great job at lowering blood pressure.

For some people, it might actually do too good a job. So talk with your doctor if you have any blood pressure issues.

Menopausal women

Women going through menopause – usually between the ages of 45 and 55 – dramatically up their risk of heart disease.

That is, their danger of suffering a heart attack and dying.

This is largely because a drop in oestrogen production. Oestrogen has a protective benefit for the heart.

It helps control cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of fat building up in your arteries. It also helps keep your blood vessels healthy.

When your oestrogen falls away, so do these protections. Fat builds up in your arteries causing them to narrow. This increases your risk of developing coronary heart disease, a heart attack or stroke.

Researchers from Penn State decided to investigate if beetroot juice might offset some of these heart risks in post-menopausal women.

And for good reason. Another function of oestrogen is maintaining nitric oxide in the body.

“This loss of nitric oxide production contributes to the substantial increase in heart disease risk for post-menopausal women,” said Dr Jocelyn Delgado Spicuzza, first author of the research.

“Foods that are rich in nitrate – especially beets – are being investigated as a natural, non-pharmaceutical way to protect the heart and blood vessels.”

The new study

According to a statement from Penn State: The team recruited 24 post-menopausal women in their 50s and 60s. After their vascular function was tested, they each consumed about half a cup of beetroot juice as an initial dose, followed by one bottle every morning for a week.

All participants consumed concentrated beetroot juice, with each serving providing as much nitrate as three large beets. A few weeks later, the participants drank beetroot juice with the nitrate removed.

Neither the researchers nor the participants knew which juice was being consumed at the time of testing.

A day after their last dose, participants returned for testing of their vascular function.

The researchers compared how well blood vessels expanded for each woman when they were and were not consuming the nitrate-rich beetroot juice.

The study results indicated that daily consumption of beetroot juice by post-menopausal women can improve blood vessel function enough to reduce future heart disease risk.