Multiple-day high-dose beetroot juice supplementation does not improve pulmonary or muscle deoxygenation kinetics of well-trained cyclists in normoxia and hypoxia

• Published in: Nitric oxide Vol. 111-112; pp. 37 - 44
• Main Authors: Rokkedal-Lausch, Torben, Franch, Jesper, Poulsen, Mathias K., Thomsen, Lars P., Weitzberg, Eddie, Kamavuako, Ernest N., Karbing, Dan S., Larsen, Ryan G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.06.2021
• Subjects: Beetroot juice; Hypoxia; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Muscle oxygenation; Nitric oxide; Oxygen kinetics; Beetroot juice; Hypoxia; Oxygen kinetics; Muscle oxygenation; Nitric oxide
• ISSN: 1089-8603; 1089-8611; 1089-8611
• DOI: 10.1016/j.niox.2021.03.006

Dietary nitrate (NO3−) supplementation via beetroot juice (BR) has been reported to lower oxygen cost (i.e., increased exercise efficiency) and speed up oxygen uptake (VO2) kinetics in untrained and moderately trained individuals, particularly during conditions of low oxygen availability (i.e., hypoxia). However, the effects of multiple-day, high dose (12.4 mmol NO3− per day) BR supplementation on exercise efficiency and VO2 kinetics during normoxia and hypoxia in well-trained individuals are not resolved. In a double-blinded, randomized crossover study, 12 well-trained cyclists (66.4 ± 5.3 ml min−1∙kg−1) completed three transitions from rest to moderate-intensity (~70% of gas exchange threshold) cycling in hypoxia and normoxia with supplementation of BR or nitrate-depleted BR as placebo. Continuous measures of VO2 and muscle (vastus lateralis) deoxygenation (ΔHHb, using near-infrared spectroscopy) were acquired during all transitions. Kinetics of VO2 and deoxygenation (ΔHHb) were modeled using mono-exponential functions. Our results showed that BR supplementation did not alter the primary time constant for VO2 or ΔHHb during the transition from rest to moderate-intensity cycling. While BR supplementation lowered the amplitude of the VO2 response (2.1%, p = 0.038), BR did not alter steady state VO2 derived from the fit (p = 0.258), raw VO2 data (p = 0.231), moderate intensity exercise efficiency (p = 0.333) nor steady state ΔHHb (p = 0.224). Altogether, these results demonstrate that multiple-day, high-dose BR supplementation does not alter exercise efficiency or oxygen uptake kinetics during normoxia and hypoxia in well-trained athletes. •NO3− supplementation does not alter moderate-intensity VO2 or HHb kinetics.•Oxygen uptake during moderate-intensity cycling were unchanged in trained athletes.•The effects of NO3− supplementation were not different between hypoxia and normoxia.•Beetroot juice did not improve exercise efficiency in well-trained athletes.•NO3− supplementation did not change muscle deoxygenation kinetics of well-trained.