This sweet flavored root vegetable is as colorful as it is healthy! Moreover, it is its red-purple pigments that give it a large part of its benefits ... Focus on vegetable beet.
Beetroot is the fleshy root of a plant from the Amaranthaceae family, a close cousin of chard. Root vegetable, like carrot, parsnip, or turnip, beetroot has its origins in Mesopotamia and has been eaten as a vegetable since Antiquity. Very resistant to low temperatures, beets are easy to grow in a vegetable garden. In Europe, Poland, Germany, and Lithuania are the main producing countries. Beets are most often sold cooked, peeled and vacuum packed, after being dug up, brushed, stone cleaned, and washed. It is more rarely found raw, it is then a question of the finer varieties such as Egyptian Plate or Chioggia (violet with white stripes).
Calories
As its taste suggests, beets are one of the sweetest vegetables, and therefore the most caloric, with 50 calories per 100 g when raw. Cooked, its value drops to 47.2 calories per 100 g.
Nutritional composition
| NUTRIMENTS | COOKED RED BEETROOT: CONTENT FOR 100 G | VEGETABLES: AVERAGE FOOD |
|---|
| Protein | 1,84 g | 1,7g |
| Carbohydrates | 8,56 g | 4,4 g |
| - of which sugars | 7,96 g | 2,3 g |
| - of which starch | 0,6 g | 0,9 g |
| Dietary fibre | 2 g | 2 g |
| Lipids | 0,18 g | 0,6 g |
| - of which cholesterol | 0 mg | 0,2 mg |
| - of which saturated fatty acids | 0,028 g | 0,1 g |
| - of which monounsaturated fatty acids | 0,035 g | 0,2 g |
| - of which polyunsaturated fatty acids | 0,064 g | 0,1 g |
| Water | 87,1 g | 90 g |
Health benefits
Prevention of neurodegenerative diseases: Beets are naturally rich in nitrates, which, according to a study conducted in 2011, would be useful in improving cerebral perfusion in the elderly. Regular consumption of beetroot juice could thus increase blood flow to the brain, protecting against senile dementia and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Cardioprotective: its vitamins, antioxidants, and fibers act together to limit the absorption of sugars and fats, regulate blood constants (cholesterol, triglycerides, glycemia) and thus limit the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Eye health: this time it is the beet leaves that are responsible for this benefit on the eyes. They are eaten cooked like spinach, and they are very rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoid derivatives effective in protecting against cataracts or macular degeneration.
Anti-cancer: betanin, the pigment responsible for the pretty violet red color of beets, is also said to have the ability to reduce the risks of certain cancers (liver, skin, and lung). The carotenoids contained in the leaves are said to have a protective effect against breast and lung cancer.
Which one to choose for health?
There are many varieties of beets. While reds are the most common, there are also white ones that look like large turnips, yellows with orange skin and bright yellow flesh, and white ones marked with concentric red circles (Chioggia). All of them are very nutritious and have many benefits. The main difference lies in the nature of the pigments: when the red is rich in betanin, the yellow beet contains beta-carotene and the white is almost devoid of pigments. Vegetable beet should not be confused with sugar beet (used to make powdered or lump sugar) or fodder beet intended for livestock feed.
How to consume it preferably?
While beets are mostly eaten cooked - since this is how they are most often marketed - they can also be eaten raw. Even if, following cases of food poisoning caused by the consumption of raw beet, the DGCCRF (Directorate-General for Competition, Consumption, and Repression of Fraud) advised against it in this form in a press release in 2017. The reasons for these intolerance reactions have not yet been identified. It can also be consumed in the juice during a 'detox' cure.
Precautions and side effects
Heavy consumption of beets can have laxative effects in people with sensitive intestines. It was long thought that because of its high sugar content, beetroot was to be avoided for diabetics. Wrongly: beets are certainly one of the sweetest vegetables, but their glycemic load is very reasonable. It, therefore, finds its place perfectly in the menus of diabetics. The consumption of beetroot sometimes causes a red coloration of the urine and/or the stools: do not panic, it is completely normal and benign!
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