Benefits
Speed of force development and muscle quality in older women
In 20 postmenopausal women, 20 g a day for 12 weeks raised the rate of force development of the thigh muscles and improved an ultrasound echo intensity measure of muscle quality compared with a nitrate-depleted extract. Force development over the full 200 ms window, peak isometric strength, muscle thickness and strength per unit of muscle did not differ between groups. One small trial.
Knee extensor torque at 8 weeks in the same trial
An earlier report from the same group of women, at 8 weeks, found greater maximal knee extensor torque than placebo, with no change in maximal power or speed of movement; torque and power gains at some test speeds lack a stated placebo comparison. In the 12-week report, peak isometric strength never differed between groups. These are results from a single small trial, not separate confirmations.
Endurance performance with training in trained men
In 30 endurance-trained men doing 12 interval sessions over 4 weeks in low-oxygen air, those taking the extract before each session improved no more than those on a blackcurrant drink placebo in any exhaustion, all-out or incremental cycling test. Blood nitrate and nitrite were not measured, and the dose the paper reports is unclear.
Blood nitrate and nitrite levels
In the 12-week trial in postmenopausal women, fasting serum nitrate and nitrite were higher than on placebo at weeks 8 and 12. In the safety study in older adults, the area under the plasma nitrate curve rose compared with placebo, although the visit-by-visit comparison did not reach significance, and nitrite did not differ. These are markers of nitrate intake, not health outcomes.
Artery stiffness and blood vessel function markers
The same research group reported less carotid artery stiffness and better leg artery and small vessel function after 12 weeks of the same daily nitrate dose from a beetroot extract in postmenopausal women; blood pressure did not change. The abstracts do not name the product, and these are vascular markers from small trials.
Blood pressure and routine blood tests over 12 weeks
In 12 older adults taking 20 g a day or placebo for 12 weeks, blood pressure, heart rate, cholesterol, fasting glucose, liver and kidney tests and body weight did not differ between groups. Fasting insulin fell in the extract group, but the overall insulin curve did not differ from placebo.
Mechanism of action
Nitrate to nitrite to nitric oxide
Dietary nitrate is reduced to nitrite by bacteria on the tongue, and nitrite can be converted to nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessel walls. In a small study, an antibacterial mouthwash before a nitrate dose abolished nitrate to nitrite conversion in saliva and markedly blunted the rise in blood nitrite. Participants in the Sabeet trial were told to avoid mouthwash for this reason.
Proposed effects of nitric oxide in muscle
The trial authors proposed that more nitric oxide may improve muscle blood flow, calcium handling and the coupling of nerve signals to contraction, which could favor rapid force production. They describe these mechanisms as speculative; echo intensity is an indirect marker, and no biopsy or MRI was done.
Nitrate-depleted extract as the comparison
In the trials of older adults, the placebo was the same extract with most of its nitrate removed by the maker (about 43 mg of nitrate a day versus about 548 mg), matched for color, taste and smell. Differences between groups can therefore be traced to nitrate rather than to the other beetroot components.
Clinical trials
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel trial; 10 g of Sabeet in water twice daily (about 548 mg or 8.8 mmol nitrate a day) versus a nitrate-depleted extract (about 43 mg a day) for 12 weeks; registered ReBEC RBR-87qh649; funded by Brazilian public grants (FAPERJ, CNPq); co-author Shaheen Majeed was employed by Sabinsa; an 8-week report from the same cohort was published separately in 2025 (Ramos Junior et al. 2026, Nutrients)
25 physically active postmenopausal women aged 60 to 85 were randomized and 20 completed (10 per group); none used hormone therapy.
Rate of force development at 30, 50 and 100 ms and peak rate of force development rose with Sabeet compared with placebo (interaction p < 0.05), and ultrasound echo intensity improved (p = 0.014). Force development at 200 ms (p = 0.170), peak isometric strength (p = 0.189), muscle thickness and functional muscle quality did not differ between groups. Serum nitrate and nitrite rose. At 8 weeks, maximal knee extensor torque was greater than placebo (p = 0.004). No single primary outcome was named; the registry lists muscle performance by isokinetic dynamometer among several broad expected outcomes.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel safety study; 10 g of Sabeet twice daily (batch with 2.74 percent nitrate, about 548 mg a day) versus a nitrate-depleted extract for 12 weeks; registered ReBEC RBR-87qh649; funded by FAPERJ and CNPq, with extract supplied by Sabinsa; two authors (Ortmann CF, Pande A) work for the Sami-Sabinsa Group (Pinheiro et al. 2024, Nutrients)
12 physically active older adults (9 women, 3 men; average age 67), 5 on the extract and 7 on placebo.
No serious adverse events; two placebo participants had flu-like symptoms, and the extract group reported pink or red urine and stools. Blood pressure, heart rate, lipids, fasting glucose, liver and kidney markers and body weight did not differ between groups. The area under the plasma nitrate curve rose versus placebo (p = 0.008), although the visit-by-visit nitrate comparison did not reach significance (p = 0.076); fasting insulin fell in the extract group (interaction p = 0.026), but the insulin curve did not differ. The authors call it preliminary and underpowered.
Randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled study with three independent groups: training in low-oxygen air with Sabeet, the same training with a blackcurrant drink placebo, or training in normal air with placebo; taken 2.5 to 3 hours before each of 12 cycling sessions over 4 weeks; funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, no Sabinsa authors (Sousa et al. 2022, Front Physiol)
30 endurance-trained men (runners, cyclists and triathletes), average age about 35 to 37 by group.
Performance in incremental, time-to-exhaustion and 3 minute all-out cycling tests in low-oxygen air improved to the same extent in all groups, and nitrate brought no additional benefit over placebo. Blood nitrate and nitrite were not measured. The paper describes 400 mg of extract with 2 percent nitrate as about 8.4 mmol of nitrate, figures that do not agree (2 percent of 400 mg is 8 mg, about 0.13 mmol, whereas 8.4 mmol would be about 520 mg); the paper also calls the drink beetroot juice.