Beetroot Juice + Exercise = Much Younger Brain

A small clinical study in 26 older sedentary adults with high blood pressure found that drinking beetroot juice before exercising turned the clock back on brain activity. The U.S. experiment tested the combined effects of exercise and beetroot juice on functional brain networks in the motor cortex, as well as on secondary connections between the motor cortex and the insula, which support mobility. Three times a week for six weeks, they drank either a nitrate-rich or nitrate-poor beetroot juice supplement and walked 50 minutes on a treadmill. The nitrate-rich beetroot juice group had much higher levels of nitrate and nitrite than the placebo group after exercise and had much more oxygen in the brain. In fact, their brain activity resembled that of much younger adults.