Chronic High-dose Beetroot Juice Supplementation Improves Time Trial Performance of Well-trained Cyclists in Normoxia and Hypoxia

Dietary nitrate (NO) supplementation via beetroot juice (BR) is known to improve endurance performance in untrained and moderately trained individuals. However, conflicting results exist in well-trained individuals. Evidence suggests that the effects of NO are augmented during conditions of reduced oxygen availability (e.g., hypoxia), thereby increasing the probability of performance improvements for well-trained athletes in hypoxia vs. normoxia. This randomized, double-blinded, counterbalanced-crossover study examined the effects of 7 days of BR supplementation with 12.4 mmol NO per day on 10-km cycling time trial (TT) performance in 12 well-trained cyclists in normoxia (N) and normobaric hypoxia (H). Linear mixed models for repeated measures revealed increases in plasma NO and NO after supplementation with BR (both p < 0.001). Further, TT performance increased with BR supplementation (∼1.6%, p < 0.05), with no difference between normoxia and hypoxia (p = 0.92). For respiratory variables there were significant effects of supplementation on VO (p < 0.05) and VE (p < 0.05) such that average VO and VE during the TT increased with BR, with no difference between normoxia and hypoxia (p ≥ 0.86). We found no effect of supplementation on heart rate, oxygen saturation or muscle oxygenation during the TT. Our results provide new evidence that chronic high-dose NO supplementation improves cycling performance of well-trained cyclists in both normoxia and hypoxia.