WHY YOU SHOULD...

DRINK BEETROOT JUICE

BEETROOT helps muscles recover after intense exercise, according to new research by the University of Northumbria.

It could be because red beetroot is a rich source of nitrate and a group of bioactive pigments called betalains, which have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

To test the theory, researchers recruited 30 men between 18 and 28, who work out at least twice a week, to do 100 intensive jump exercises, which cause muscle damage in their legs.

For three days the men drank either 250ml of beetroot juice, 125ml of beetroot juice or a placebo drink which had the same calorie and carbohydrate content as beetroot juice.

The 250ml dose of beetroot juice did result in a faster recovery of jump height performance and reduced muscle soreness in both beetroot drinking groups.

The study’s lead author, Dr Tom Clifford, said: “Three days of consuming the higher beetroot juice dose enhanced participants’ recovery.

Those in the beetroot juice group jumped an average of 18% higher than those in the placebo group two days after completing the bout of exercise.”

DOCTOR’S NOTE

THOUSANDS more breast cancer patients ought to be offered gene testing to help identify relatives who may be at risk of developing the disease, says a new study.

The work, by a team at the Institute of Cancer Research in London and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, suggested using new criteria on women to test for BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.

Doctors currently ask women about their family history when deciding whether to offer a gene test, but the study suggested this approach can be unreliable.

Of the 1,020 patients tested, the study found 110 had a BRCA mutation. Half of these would have been missed using current criteria for testing, the study found.

It added that the new approach could also be cost-effective for the NHS, owing to cancers which could be prevented in relatives.