Beets are underappreciated. They've been relegated to root vegetable salads and your quirky aunt's questionable holiday recipes when they should be getting more attention. Because 1) they're absolutley delicious despite what anyone says and 2) they're packed with nutrients for day-to-day health eating. And now a new study says that the bright red beet can also do wonders for your workout. 

According to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the root vegetable contains a molecule that boosts muscle power. The study—which was published in September in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure—involved nine subjects with heart failure who consumed about 2/3 of a cup of concentrated beet juice and almost immediately felt its effects, with an average increase in muscle power of 13 percent.

The scientists note that this is a dramatic boost, the kind of improvement most people don't see until after months of resistance training. But it's important to note that this study honed in specifically on the muscles that extend the knee and concentrated on patients who have suffered heart failure because their muscles don't deliver as much power to begin with. Researchers say this makes it much easier to measure improvement.

However, study coauthors Andrew Cogan and Linda Peterson have conducted other tests which prove that beet juice can benefit others as well, including one that tested 12 healthy subjects and another that focused on 13 college athletes. Coggan notes that all groups saw improvements in muscle power, which he defines as a combination of force and velocity. These characteristics are essential for both sports like gymnastics and running but also everyday tasks like moving furniture or getting up from a seated position. "And we're seeing these improvements within an hour and a half to two hours after ingestion," Peterson told NPR. 

So what exactly is behind the vegetable's magic muscle power? Nitrate. Typically found concentrated in leafy greens like spinach, nitrate converts into nitrite when ingested, which then becomes nitric oxide, a molecule that increases your muscles' power. It can also improve blood circulation. Next time you're headed to the gym, break out the juicer first.

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