Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumberland Building, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK.
Water Research Group, School of Environmental Sciences and Development, Northwest University, Potchefstroom 2520, South Africa.
Nutrients. 2015 Apr 14;7(4):2801-22. doi: 10.3390/nu7042801.
In recent years there has been a growing interest in the biological activity of red beetroot (Beta vulgaris rubra) and its potential utility as a health promoting and disease preventing functional food. As a source of nitrate, beetroot ingestion provides a natural means of increasing in vivo nitric oxide (NO) availability and has emerged as a potential strategy to prevent and manage pathologies associated with diminished NO bioavailability, notably hypertension and endothelial function. Beetroot is also being considered as a promising therapeutic treatment in a range of clinical pathologies associated with oxidative stress and inflammation. Its constituents, most notably the betalain pigments, display potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and chemo-preventive activity in vitro and in vivo. The purpose of this review is to discuss beetroot's biological activity and to evaluate evidence from studies that specifically investigated the effect of beetroot supplementation on inflammation, oxidative stress, cognition and endothelial function.
近年来，人们对红甜菜根（Beta vulgaris rubra）的生物活性及其作为促进健康和预防疾病的功能性食品的潜在用途越来越感兴趣。作为硝酸盐的来源，甜菜根的摄入为增加体内一氧化氮（NO）的可用性提供了一种自然途径，并已成为预防和管理与 NO 生物利用度降低相关的病理学的潜在策略，特别是高血压和内皮功能障碍。甜菜根也被认为是一种有前途的治疗方法，可用于治疗与氧化应激和炎症相关的一系列临床病理学。其成分，特别是甜菜红素类色素，在体外和体内具有很强的抗氧化、抗炎和化学预防作用。本文的目的是讨论甜菜根的生物活性，并评估专门研究甜菜根补充对炎症、氧化应激、认知和内皮功能影响的研究证据。
