| dc.description.abstract | Beet root juice (BRJ) contains a high concentration of inorganic nitrates, previously
shown to improve blood flow to skeletal muscle. Recent studies in males have found that
acute BRJ supplementation can improve anaerobic exercise performance. However, the
effects of BRJ supplementation on exercise performance in females currently unknown.
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of BRJ
supplementation on anaerobic performance in females. METHODS: 18 healthy,
recreationally trained females (22.8 ± 1.58 years, 167.6 ± 6.12 cm, 68.0 ± 0.87 kg)
performed a countermovement jump (CMJ) test and a Wingate anaerobic power test on
two different occasions to observe potential differences between treatments. Results were
examined under two isoenergetic conditions which required supplementation of either 1)
BRJ (10g) or 2) placebo (10g) before testing. A within subject paired samples t-test using
SPSS with the level of significance set to alpha <0.05 was used to examine differences in
performance measures between condition. RESULTS: It was found that BRJ ingestion
did not result in significantly different measures of peak power output, average power
output, minimum power, time to peak power, fatigue index, or vertical jump height
compared to the placebo (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The main finding of this study
indicate that an acute dose of BRJ does not influence anaerobic power or fatigue index in
either a Wingate maximal effort test or a vertical jump test. More work is needed to
determine the timing, dosage and length of performance and subject population best
optimized by the ingestion of BRJ as an effective ergogenic aide. | en_US |
