 What is the optimal timing and dose of nitrate-containing vegetables? In terms of timing for improving athletic performance, everyone's different, so basically two or three hours before a competition is about as specific as we can get. How much borscht do we have to have for breakfast? To date, most studies have used a narrow range of doses, so it's not clear if it's a matter of more the better, or if there's a ceiling or a threshold amount, until they put it to the test. Set up folks on an exercise bike had them furiously cycle until they dropped. They made it about eight minutes after drinking a placebo, and after one shot of beetroot juice, about a quart of a cup, they may or may not have gained themselves a few seconds, but drinking a half cup gave them like an extra minute. But drinking even more didn't seem to offer additional benefit. That half cup or so of beet juice corresponds to eight units of nitrate, so four didn't significantly work, and 16 did no better than eight, so eight appears to be the sweet spot for improving athletic performance. What about for lowering blood pressure? Same thing. Four units of the triangles may have helped a little, but eight worked better and about equally as well as 16. A 10-point drop in blood pressure may not sound like a lot, but may translate into dropping heart attack risk 25% and stroke risk 35%. But look, beet juice is perishable and hard to find. What about V8 juice, which has both beet and spinach juice? Must not have a lot, because you'd have to drink 19 quarts a day to hit the target. Straight beet juice is nitrate-packed, but it's a processed food. How many actual beets or green leafy vegetables would one have to eat to reach the target of eight units? The British Heart Foundation put together this really helpful table that takes into account both nitrate concentration and serving size. So serving of anything in the high group is worth two units, a serving of medium group vegetables about a half, and low nitrate vegetables about a tenth. Now these are really pretty small servings, less than three ounces. Remember, we're trying to get up to eight a day, so typical 15-ounce can of beets would nail the eight-unit target for the day, as would a really big salad of greens. Most people only get about a unit a day, but even vegetarians need to double their vegetable intake, and those eating organic may have to eat even more. Organic produce may have more vitamin C, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, but tends to have fewer nitrates. Beets by loss of synthetic nitrogen to fertilizers are banned from organic agriculture. Now eating 15% more organic veggies to get the same nitrate intake is easy, but for beets the spread can be larger. On the other hand, organic beets may have more of certain phytonutrients like the red pigment, which may explain why organic beet extracts had significantly higher anti-cancer effects in vitro compared to conventional beets.