Impact of Beetroot Juice Ingestion on Female Rugby Performance (BEETJUICERUGBY)

Impact of an Acute Beetroot Ingestion on Neuromuscular Performance in Female Rugby Players

Rugby is a team sport characterized by high-intermittent efforts, due to the importance of realizing intermittent and explosive efforts in rugby the use of nutritional strategies such as beetroot ingestion should be explored with the aim to enhance the capacity for repeating high-intensity actions in female players.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Nitric Oxide; Placebo
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: Beetroot juice

Detailed Description

Rugby is a team sport characterized by high-intermittent efforts, thus, to the importance of realizing intermittent and explosive efforts in field hockey is crucial. For this reason, the use of nutritional strategies in field hockey should be explored with the aim to enhance the capacity for repeating high-intensity actions. However, scientific evidence supports only a few numbers of dietary supplements that have reported good evidence for improving sports performance, between we can mention beetroot juice supplementation with doses > 5 mmol of NO3-. Beetroot juice is a NO3- precursor with recognized effectiveness to elicit performance due to different physiological mechanisms associated with its ingestion such as increment in vasodilatation, skeletal muscle contractility, or delaying fatigue development that could be linked with an enhance or performance in team-sports athletes. However, the majority of the studies has been realized in male athletes being female athletes underrepresented in beetroot juice supplementation research. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the effects of beetroot juice ingestion on neuromuscular performance in female rugby players.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 13
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Spain
  • Madrid, Spain, 28223
    • Universidad Francisco de Vitoria
  • Madrid
    • Pozuelo de Alarcón, Madrid, Spain, 28223
      • Universidad Francisco de Vitoria

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 40 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• More than 5 years of rugby training experience.
• Active rugby player

Exclusion Criteria:

• Concurrently participating in other studies.
• Contraindications to beetroot juice ingestion.
• Physical limitations, health problems, or musculoskeletal injuries.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Beetroot supplementation; One serving 140 mL of beetroot juice (12.8 mmol of NO3-; Beet-It-Pro Elite Shot, James White Drinks Ltd., Ipswich, UK) 3 h before initiating the testing session.	Dietary supplement: Beetroot juice; Acute effects of beetroot juice ingestion on neuromuscular performance in female rugby players; Other Names: Nitrate precursors
Placebo Comparator: Placebo supplementation; One serving 140 mL of beetroot juice placebo (0.08 mmol of NO3-; Beet-It-Pro Elite Shot, James White Drinks Ltd., Ipswich, UK) 3 h before initiating the testing session.	Dietary supplement: Beetroot juice; Acute effects of beetroot juice ingestion on neuromuscular performance in female rugby players; Other Names: Nitrate precursors

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in Bronco Aerobic Fitness Test	Time to complete test using photocell timing gates	1-week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Changes in maximal jump height (cm)	Maximal jump height using a contact platform	1 week
Changes in maximal isometric handgrip strength (kg)	Using a hand-held dynamometer	1-week
Changes in 30-meters sprint time (s)	Time to complete 30-m sprints using photocell timing gates	1 week
Changes in rate of perceived exertion scale	Differences between placebo and beetroot juice in rate of perception exertion scale	1-week
Changes in side effects questionnarie	Differences between placebo and beetroot juice in side effects health aspects	1-week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Universidad Francisco de Vitoria
• Collaborators: University of Alcala; Universidad Complutense de Madrid; University of Seville

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): January 20, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 27, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): January 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 14, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 14, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): January 26, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 21, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 20, 2022
• Last Verified: January 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: dietary supplements; nitrate; sports performance
• Other Study ID Numbers: Universidad_FranciscoVitoria

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No