Be carefull with beet juice. It contains nitrate. Using a lot of nitrate can cause cancer. You can drink beet juice, but not on a daily basis. I will try it too. But not every day. Don’t drink beet juice on the days you eat nitrate rich food like fish, spinach, endive and Chinese cabbage.
I'm eating raw beets, is there a difference?
TLDR version: nitrates from your daily salami, pepperoni, ham and the like are far more dangerous that the overall healthy beets. Antioxidant intake from fruits and veggies or from supplements like vitamin C have a protective effect.
Hi Vandemolen, Meshal and everyone,
Thanks, Vandemolen, for underlying the nitrates concern about beets.
There is also naturally occurring nitrates in whole beets, just like in htie juice. But those are less a problem than nitrates and nitrites injected in processed meat and delicatessen, as preservatives, and to give them a pink color. So, all processed meat and delicatessen, like in the classical ham sandwiches, are more a problem, concerning cancer risks, so when you go to the grocery, buy nitrates-free meat, whenever available ( if it is not specified as nitrate-free, it sure contains nitrates, so read the labels carefully - you will often see "sodium nitrate" in the ingredients). Organic meat, of course, is safe as well.
Nitates are not the cancer-causing molecule per se. It is nitrosamine, a derivative of nitrates, that is causing cancer. Nitrosamine are formed when nitrates are heated at high temperatrue in the presence of protein or other sources of amines, so when cooking processed meat with nitrates and nitrites, you have all the conditions to produce nitrosamines.... and then you eat this. Industrial and processed food are full of these toxic products, so be aware of what you eat ! This could be on of the reason why colon cancers are so frequent in developped countries, and much less in poor, "developing" countries where they barely eat meat and have no grocery stores selling processed meat ( but do not wait for any official statement soon on this topic... just take note that more companies are now offering meats free of nitrites and nitrates, just like more groceries offer organic fruits and veggies with no pesticides and chemical on and in them )
As one can deduct, you have far less risks from beets, because :
1- beets do not contains much proteins, almost none compared to meat, and the presence of proteins is needed for nitrosamine production
2-Beets are very high in antioxydants, as often the case with highly pigmented fruits and veggies, so these are blocking the oxidation of nitrates to nitrosamine. Some studies have even been done with beet roots extract in cancer treatment, and the risk of the nitrate content seems to be offset by the antioxidant content, as there is strong evidence that veggies having a high level of nitrates are, despite this, lowering cancer risks - see
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/269148273- beets are not always cooked/heated, so if eaten raw, or made in juice with no heating, no nitrosamines are produced in the process, and risks fall accordingly ( also, not suprising to me, organic fermented beet juice show more anticancer activity than conventionnal, non-organic juice - ref:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24798659 )
Also, if you have a healthy diet, with lots of antioxydants, or simply take a vitamin C supplement, or other antioxydant supplementation ( Vit E, polyphenols, carotenoids, etc...), this will protect, at least in part, from nitrosamines, as they will be scavenged by antioxidants.
Vandemolen is right in saying that it is not a good idea to eat a lot of beets every day, but like any other things, they are very healthy when you eat them moderately. Morever, I wouldn't recommend a POIS sufferer to consume too much beets, because the nitrate content helps the erection process.... and usually, we prefer abstinence over high level of sexual activity, for obvious reasons !
For all those interested to read more about this, I have found this article written in lay terms, that is very informative:
https://www.healthambition.com/processed-meat-nitrosamines-cancer/ I hope this will help those interested in including beets in their healthy diet to do so in an informed manner.
