What are the potential health benefits of beet extracts and betanin?
Beets used to be only found in salad bars in canned form, and on European menus, but with the culinary winds changing, this root is now commonly seen in stateside grocery stores everywhere. This root vegetable like its turnip cousin has two parts — the edible root and the edible green leave. The serving size of cooked beets is 1/2 cup (85 g) contains 35 calories, 8 g of carbohydrate, 2 g of dietary fiber, 7 g of sugars, 1 g of protein, and trace amounts of vitamin C, calcium and iron. Researchers from Israel found a class of dietary cationized antioxidants (betalains) in red beets (Beta vulgaris L.) This class of antioxidants consists mainly of betanin (betanidin 5-O-beta- glucoside). Betanin was found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and heme decomposition. They believe that red beet products used regularly in the diet may provide benefits against certain oxidative stress-related disorders. [2] Researchers from Research Institute of Nutrition, Slovak Republic, found that red beet (Beta v
