In the best case scenario, it’s never a great idea to substitute natural diet with a supplement. Many health proponents would tell you that it’s always better to get your nutrients from food rather than supplements. However, there are many instances where it’s impossible to get the desired nutrition entirely from foods. For instance, a bodybuilder can’t take all of his protein intake from milk or meat. It’s nearly impossible to do that. Plus, it’s a lot more convenient, and someway, beneficial for the bodybuilders to use supplements as they can get select nutrients. More on that later in this article on beetroot powder vs juice.
Beetroot powder vs beetroot supplement
For many people, it’s hard to deal with the earthy taste of beetroot juice. Most of you reading this right now either hate the taste of beetroot juice or just curious to know if it’s alright to add beetroot supplement powder to your diet. Whether you should take beetroot supplements or not, you should ask that to your dietician. But if it’s about comparing beetroot powder with beetroot juice, I can help you with that.
Calories comparison
If you are on a very strict calorie count, beetroot juice isn’t for you. A beetroot supplement is a much better option then. When you compare the calories on both, a single teaspoon serving of a standard beetroot supplement contains only 15 calories, while 1 cup of beetroot juice has 110 calories. Let’s do a little more math:
According to the nutrition label of the beetroot supplement used for reference, a single teaspoon is equivalent to three beetroots. Whereas, it could take 5-6, 2-inch beets to make a cup of beetroot juice.
Vitamins and Minerals Comparison
The nutrition info both on beetroot powder supplement and the juice is very limited. We do know that a standard beetroot supplement has around 10mg of sodium and 85mg of potassium. The supplement is not a source of any other important nutrient. Compare this to a cup of beetroot juice and you could see a major difference. There are no exact figures for the amount of potassium present in beetroot juice but if I do a rough calculation, there’s around 1500mg of potassium in five to six fresh beetroots. A cup of juice also has around 95mg of sodium. Summing the nutrients comparison, beetroot juice simply wins it with its high dosage of potassium because it’s that one nutrient that you want to have in your diet as it lowers blood pressure.
Proteins, Carbs and Fats Comparison
The ironic part is that there’s no source of nutrient in a beetroot supplement that’s derived from beetroot. It’s just a special nutrients formula that closely resembles that of the beetroot juice. But coming down to the number of carbs, proteins, and fats in both, the beetroot juice wins once again with its 3g of protein and 24g of carbs in a one-cup serving. Beetroot powder supplements, whereas, has very little or no protein and 4g of carbs. As far the fat is concerned, both are fat-free.
Beetroot powder Nitrates content Comparison
Nitrates are an important constituent of beetroots. They help to lower the blood pressure and improve workouts. A single two-inch beetroot has around 200mg of nitrates while a cup of beetroot has more than 1000mg of nitrates. No information is available on the amount of the nitrates present in a beetroot supplement, which is not very fascinating because the nitrates are one of the major reasons why someone would want to have beetroots in their diet.
Sugar content
The juice contains significantly more sugar than its supplement counterpart. A cup of beetroot juice has 22g of sugar while a teaspoon of powder only has 3g.
My final verdict on Beetroot powder vs. juice
Whether you should use beetroot juice or the supplement, it totally depends on you. Now that you know the facts and figures, you will be able to make a decision. I know that we all will have our specific opinion but here are my two cents on all of this:
- If you can deal with the taste of beetroot juice, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have it. The sugar amount in the beetroot juice is higher than the beetroot supplement but it’s not significant, especially for someone, who is taking carbs in their diet.
- For a person who is on a very strict-calorie diet, a beetroot supplement sounds better, but then again, I would tell to go with the beetroot juice. It’s good to have natural sources of nutrients in your diet especially when you have a very strict diet plan to follow.
- If you lift, go with the beetroot juice. The 22g of sugar won’t harm you but the high amounts of nitrates and potassium will definitely leave you with better performance during your workouts.
- I believe that beetroot juice and beetroot supplements are incomparable. There’s nothing on a beetroot supplement that’s extracted from beetroots; just a bunch of nutrients that resemble the nutrients in a beetroot. I would never say yes to beetroot powder if I can have the beetroot juice.
- You could use a combination of both if you think that you can’t juice beetroots every day. Also, remember that beetroots juice is going to cost you more than the supplement. Haven’t done the costing but I definitely see beetroots as more expensive.
