A research group led by Associate Professor Hitoshi Wakabayashi of the Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Lecturer Yasuko Sakihama, and Professor Makoto Hashimoto of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University discovered that drinking a red beet drink has the effect of quickly warming up cold hands and feet. rice field.
According to Hokkaido University, red beetroot is rich in nitrates, which are known to convert into nitric oxide in the body, reducing blood pressure and promoting blood flow through vasodilation.The research group thought that this effect could be used to improve coldness, and conducted an experiment on 20 healthy adult men.
In the experiment, 20 people were asked to drink 140 ml of water or red beetroot drink, and after 120 minutes, they soaked their hands in water at 8 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes to cool down, and took 27 minutes to recover at room temperature of 20 degrees. Blood flow and temperature were measured.
As a result, it was found that the recovery effect of red beet drink was greater than that of water, and that those who had a slow recovery effect with water recovered faster when they drank red beet drink.The research group believes that ingestion of red beet promoted blood flow in the fingertips.
On the other hand, there was no difference between red beet drink and water in blood flow and body temperature during cooling.It became clear that the effects of red beet ingestion do not appear when the body is exposed to strong cold stimulation, so it is necessary to verify the effect of red beet in daily mild cold environments. .
Paper information:[European Journal of Applied Physiology] Influence of acute beetroot juice supplementation on cold-induced vasodilation and fingertip rewarming
