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. 2022 Jan 11;19(2):762.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19020762.

The Effects of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation on Explosive Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review

Rachel Tan  1 , Leire Cano  2 , Ángel Lago-Rodríguez  3 , Raúl Domínguez  4   5
Affiliations

The Effects of Dietary Nitrate Supplementation on Explosive Exercise Performance: A Systematic Review

Rachel Tan et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Dietary nitrate supplementation is evidenced to induce physiological effects on skeletal muscle function in fast-twitch muscle fibers and may enhance high-intensity exercise performance. An important component of sport-specific skills is the ability to perform explosive movements; however, it is unclear if nitrate supplementation can impact explosive efforts. We examined the existing evidence to determine whether nitrate supplementation improves explosive efforts lasting ≤ 6 s. PubMed, Scopus and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) were searched for articles using the following search strategy: (nitrate OR nitrite OR beetroot) AND (supplement OR supplementation) AND (explosive OR power OR high intensity OR high-intensity OR sprint* OR "athletic performance"). Out of 810 studies, 18 were eligible according to inclusion criteria. Results showed that 4 of the 10 sprint-type studies observed improved sprint time, power output, and total work in cycling or running, whereas 4 of the 10 resistance-based exercise studies observed improvements to power and velocity of free-weight bench press as well as isokinetic knee extension and flexion at certain angular velocities. These results suggest that nitrate potentially improves explosive exercise performance, but further work is required to clarify the factors influencing the efficacy of nitrate in different exercise modalities.

Keywords: beetroot juice; ergogenic aid; muscle; nitric oxide; power; sports nutrition.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A schematic diagram of the nitrate–nitrite–nitric oxide (NO3−–NO2−–NO) pathway, which is facilitated by environments of low oxygen tension and acidosis. The conversion of NO2− to NO occurs via various enzymatic reactions; S-nitrosothiols (RSNO) can decompose to form NO. XOR = xanthine oxidoreductase; deoxy-Hb = deoxyhemoglobin; deoxy-Mb = deoxymyoglobin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) flowchart [58].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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