David Liu (davidl@foodconsumer.org)

Need a boost in your bedroom performance? You might consider drinking a couple of beetroot juice each day as a new study has found beetroot juice boosts physical stamina and increases exercise endurance by up to 16 percent.

The British study of eight men aged 19 to 38 suggests that nitrate in beetroot juice reduces oxygen uptake and may benefit endurance athletes, elderly people and those with cardiovascular, respiratory or metabolic diseases.

For the study, researchers assigned 500 milliliters of organic beetroot juice a day for six consecutive days. The participants then completed a cycling trial to conduct a series of tests. After the six days, they were asked to use 500 milliliters of a placebo and got tested again to examine their physical stamina and exercise endurance.

Andy Jones and colleagues from the University of Exeter's School of Sport and Health Sciences reported on Aug. 6 in the Journal of Applied Physiology that drinking beetroot juice, the men were able to cycle for 11.25 minutes on average, 92 seconds longer than when consuming the placebo drink.

The researchers did not know the mechanism, but suggested that nitrate in beetroot juice increases stamina by turning nitrate in beetroot juice into nitric oxide in the body, reducing oxygen uptake and increasing physical endurance.