Benefits Of Beets

This article on the health benefits of beets was inspired by Christy’s delicious sweet baked whole beets, but you can imagine what would happen if they hit the floor, leaving their red calling card.  So there are definitely a lot of pros and cons of beets.

You’ve probably seen whole beets with their greens attached in the produce section of a supermarket.  They are the reddish purple bulbs under long green leaves with their telltale purple veins extending out.  The bulbs are the beetroot, which are what we traditionally think of as the “beets”, and the leaves are the beet greens, which make a great addition to salads, or cooked like other greens like collards or swiss chard.

What are the types of beets?

Usually we think of beets as the red or purple-red root vegetable.  However, you also can find golden beets varieties, including Chioggia beets and golden beets.  The yellow-golden varieties taste similar to red beets, but I find they have a smoother or less earthy flavor.  Nutritionally the red and golden beets are similar, but they have different pigmentation.  Red beets have betalain pigment while golden beets have a b-xanthin pigment

Health Benefits of Beets

Here are a few of the benefits of beets you can think of:

• Good source of some vitamins and minerals: beets are particularly rich in potassium, vitamin C, manganese, folate and vitamin B-6.
• Good source of dietary fiber.
• Very low fat content.
• Great source of Betanin and vulgaxanthin, which are Betalain phytonutrients believed to be good antioxidants.

Because of this nutritional content of beets, some health benefits follow:

• Possible improvement in blood pressure reduction, at least in part from a high potassium content.
• Heart health and cardiovascular system benefits, such as from low fat content, dietary fiber, and potassium content.
• The Betanin and vulgaxanthin have been studied also are believed to reduce blood pressure.  Beets are a uniquely good source of these antioxidants, although they also can be found in the stems of rhubarb and swiss chard.
• Some studies have shown that betanin in beets also can help to reduce the rate of growth of some tumor cells, although certainly are not a cure for cancer.