Beetroot
Food · Vegetable · Food, Typed Supps
Raw, baked, boiled or canned — the cooking method changes this vegetable more than most.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Chewing and oral bacteria): Bacteria on the tongue reduce dietary nitrate to nitrite — the first and necessary step.
- Digestion (Sugars, fibre and pigment): Sugars and potassium are released; fibre passes on to be fermented; betalain pigment largely survives intact.
- Absorption (Nitrite enters circulation): Nitrite is absorbed and carried in the blood, peaking around two to three hours after a serving.
- Circulation (Vessels relax): Nitrite is converted to nitric oxide where oxygen is low, relaxing vessel walls and modestly lowering blood pressure.
Time to effect
- Hours: Plasma nitrite peaks two to three hours after a serving and returns to baseline within about a day.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Vegan, Vegetarian, Pescatarian, Halal, Kosher, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Keto.
In season
June to December in the northern hemisphere, December to June in the southern.
Satiety
The satiety index is measured on 240 kcal servings. At 44 kcal per 100 g that is 545 g of this, which is not a serving anyone eats — so the index has nothing to say about it.
Environmental footprint
0.4 kg CO2e and 28 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Root vegetables" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Cheap — roughly £1.4 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 44
- Protein: 1.2g
- Carbohydrate: 8.7g
- of which sugars: 8.7g
- Fat: 0g
- of which saturated: 0g
- Fibre: 2g
- Sodium: 220mg
Food vs. supplement
Beetroot shots concentrate the nitrate into a dose you could not comfortably eat as whole root, which is why sports trials use them. Whole beetroot brings fibre, folate and potassium instead of dose precision.
Kitchen tip
Roast whole in the skin to concentrate the sugars and keep the nitrate in the vegetable. If you boil it, keep the cooking water for a soup or stock rather than pouring it away.
Common myth
“Beetroot is high in iron — you can tell from the colour.” In reality: The red is betalain pigment, not iron. Beetroot's iron content is modest and non-heme, so it absorbs poorly. Its nitrate content is the part with real evidence behind it.
More in Vegetable
In the glossary
Sources