Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Keywords

Potassium nitrate, Rowing, Supplementation, Beetroot, Anaerobic power

Abstract

Background: While it is well established that dietary nitrate reduces the metabolic cost of exercise, recent evidence suggests this effect is maintained 24 h following the final nitrate dose when plasma nitrite levels have returned to baseline. In addition, acute dietary nitrate was recently reported to enhance peak power production. Our purpose was to examine whether chronic dietary nitrate supplementation enhanced peak power 24 h following the final dose and if this impacted performance in a heavily power-dependent sport.
Methods: In a double-blind, randomized, crossover design, maximal aerobic capacity, body composition, strength, maximal power (30 s Wingate), endurance (2 km rowing time trial), and CrossFit performance (Grace protocol) were assessed before and after six days of supplementation with nitrate (NO) (8 mmol·potassium nitrate·d−1) or a noncaloric placebo (PL). A 10-day washout period divided treatment conditions. Paired t-tests were utilized to assess changes over time and to compare changes between treatments.
Results: Peak Wingate power increased significantly over time with NO (889.17 ± 179.69 W to 948.08 ± 186.80 W; p = 0.01) but not PL (898.08 ± 183.24 W to 905.00 ± 157.23 W; p = 0.75). However, CrossFit performance was unchanged, and there were no changes in any other performance parameters.
Conclusion: Consuming dietary nitrate in the potassium nitrate salt form improved peak power during a Wingate test, but did not improve elements of strength or endurance in male CrossFit athletes.

Publication Title

Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Volume

13

Issue

39

Type

text

Format

application/pdf

Language

en

DOI of Published Version

10.1186/s12970-016-0150-y

Publisher

BioMed Central

Rights

In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-NC/1.0/

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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