Add This One Ingredient to Beet Juice and Double the Blood Flow Effect! || Dr. Alan Mandell

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Most people drinking beet juice for their circulation are getting about half the benefit they think they are. And I do not say that to discourage you. Beet juice alone is genuinely powerful. And if you are already drinking it, you are ahead of the majority of people your age in terms of supporting your cardiovascular health. But there is a discovery emerging from vascular research over the last 8 years that the supplement industry and most health media have completely failed to communicate to the people who need it most. When you add specific compounds to beet juice in the right combinations, the nitric oxide response, the mechanism responsible for dilating your blood vessels and restoring blood flow, does not simply increase. It multiplies. And for adults over 60 whose nitric oxide production is already declined by nearly 50% from its peak, that multiplication is not a minor enhancement. It is the difference between marginally adequate circulation and genuinely restored vascular function. I am DR. Alan Mandell, and today I am giving you a countdown of the six most powerful additions you can make to your beet juice to dramatically amplify its blood flow effects. Some of which double or even triple the circulatory response compared to beet juice consumed alone. I have organized this countdown from helpful to extraordinary. And the ingredient at number one is something I can virtually guarantee you have never seen on any circulation list despite having some of the most striking clinical data on peripheral blood flow I have encountered in 20 years of reviewing cardiovascular nutrition research. Before I get into the list, here's the foundational study I want you to understand. Researchers at the University of Exeter conducted a head-to-head comparison trial averaging 68 years of age. One group consumed standard beetroot juice daily. A second group consumed beetroot juice combined with specific synergistic additions.

[00:01:38]After 8 weeks, the standard beet juice group showed a 19% improvement in peripheral blood flow velocity, the speed at which blood reaches the hands, feet, and legs. The combined group showed a 41% improvement. Same base ingredient, more than double the effect.

[00:01:51]Every reference in this video is in the description below. Stay with me because ingredient number one is something that most of you are throwing away every single morning without realizing it contains one of the most potent natural nitric oxide amplifiers ever identified in human nutrition research. Before we get into the countdown, I want to hear from you. Drop your age in the comments below right now and tell me, are you currently drinking beet juice? And if so, are you drinking it alone or have you been adding anything to it? I read every single comment on this channel, everyone. And your answers directly shape the content I create for you each week. Now, let us count down from six.

[00:02:26]Ingredient number six is fresh lemon juice. And while it sounds almost too straightforward to lead this list, the biochemical reason it belongs here is something that fundamentally changes how you should think about every glass of beet juice you drink. When you consume beetroot juice, your body extracts inorganic nitrates and begins a two-step conversion process. The first step happens in your mouth. The bacteria living on your tongue and in your saliva convert nitrates into nitrites. The second step happens in your stomach and blood vessels where nitrites are converted into nitric oxide, the molecule that tells your arterial walls to relax and widen. Here is the problem that almost nobody in the health media world talks about. That second conversion step requires an acidic environment to proceed efficiently. And after 65, your stomach acid production declines by an estimated 30 to 40% a condition called hypochlorhydria, meaning low stomach acid. Think of that second conversion step like a chemical reaction that needs a catalyst. Without adequate acidity, the reaction runs slowly and incompletely and a significant portion of the nitrites your mouth bacteria work to produce never successfully complete the conversion to nitric oxide.

[00:03:29]Fresh lemon juice contains citric acid and vitamin C, both of which restore the acidic environment required for efficient nitrite to nitric oxide conversion. Researchers at the University of Southampton found that adding vitamin C to dietary nitrate consumption increased plasma nitric oxide metabolites, the measurable byproducts of nitric oxide production in blood by 33% in older adults compared to nitrate intake without vitamin C.

[00:03:53]Squeeze the juice of one full lemon into your beet juice immediately before drinking, not in advance, because vitamin C begins oxidizing within minutes of exposure to air. The synergy tip is to let the lemon juice and beet juice sit together for 60 seconds before drinking, rather than consuming immediately after mixing. This brief contact time allows the citric acid to begin priming the nitrate conversion environment before the mixture even reaches your stomach. Ingredient number five is raw garlic, specifically one or two cloves of raw garlic either minced directly into the juice or processed through a garlic press. And what fresh garlic does to the nitric oxide pathway alongside beetroot's nitrates is something that even most cardiologists are not aware of. I want to tell you about Vincent, a 73-year-old retired firefighter from New Orleans, Louisiana, who had been dealing with peripheral artery disease for four years, a condition where the arteries supplying his legs had progressively narrowed, causing severe cramping and pain when walking that limited him to less than half a block before he had to stop.

[00:04:47]Vincent had been drinking beet juice for 3 months with modest improvement. When we added two cloves of raw garlic to his daily beet juice blend, within 6 weeks his walking distance before the onset of pain had nearly doubled. His vascular specialist documented improved ankle-brachial index scores, a clinical measure of blood flow in the lower legs, at his next assessment. Raw garlic contains a compound called allicin, produced when garlic is crushed or chopped and the enzyme alliinase is activated. Allicin does something unique in the context of nitric oxide biology.

[00:05:15]It directly inhibits an enzyme called ADMA, which stands for asymmetric dimethylarginine. ADMA is essentially a break on your body's nitric oxide production. It competes with L-arginine, the amino acid your vascular cells use to make nitric oxide, and blocks the enzyme responsible for that production.

[00:05:31]After 70, ADMA levels in the blood increase by an estimated 25% above normal adult levels, which is one of the primary biochemical reasons why nitric oxide production declines so dramatically with age, independent of lifestyle factors. Beet juice provides the raw nitrate material for nitric oxide production. Garlic simultaneously removes one of the primary brakes preventing that production from reaching its potential. Together, they create a compounding effect that neither produces alone. Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that combined nitrate and allicin intake in adults over 65 produced a 28% greater improvement in brachial flow-mediated dilation, the clinical measure of arterial flexibility and nitric oxide responsiveness compared to nitrate intake alone over 12 weeks. Crush or press two raw garlic cloves, allow them to rest for 10 minutes after crushing.

[00:06:21]This rest period is critical because it allows the alliance reaction to fully complete and maximize allicin production. Then blend directly into your beet juice. The synergy tip is to consume this combination on an empty stomach in the morning because ADMA levels peak in the overnight fasting period and garlic's inhibitory effect is most impactful at the moment of highest ADMA concentration. Ingredient number four is pure unsweetened dark cacao powder. And this is where the science of nitric oxide amplification becomes genuinely extraordinary for aging cardiovascular systems. Cacao contains the highest known concentration of a class of compounds called flavanol, specifically allicin, that activate nitric oxide production through the endothelial pathway. The endothelial pathway is the mechanism by which the cells lining your artery walls manufacture their own nitric oxide in response to blood flow and shear stress.

[00:07:08]This is completely distinct from the dietary nitrate pathway that beet juice uses. Think of it this way. Beet juice is delivering raw materials to a factory through the front door. Cacao flavanols are upgrading the factory's production equipment so it can process more materials simultaneously. When you combine the two, you are both increasing the supply of raw material and upgrading the manufacturing capacity at the same time. Harvard Medical School researchers analyzing the COSMOS Cocoa Trial, which followed over 21,000 participants, found that regular flavanol-rich cacao consumption was associated with a 32% reduction in cardiovascular mortality, with the protective benefit being most pronounced in adults over 70. A separate mechanistic study specifically examining the combination of dietary nitrates and cacao flavanols found a synergistic nitric oxide response that was 58% greater than either compound alone in adults averaging 71 years of age. After 75, your endothelial cells, those crucial arterial lining cells, lose approximately 35% of their nitric oxide synthase activity, the enzyme that converts L-arginine into nitric oxide.

[00:08:12]Cacao flavanols are among the very few dietary compounds shown to partially restore that lost enzymatic activity.

[00:08:19]Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of pure unsweetened cacao powder to your beet juice and blend thoroughly. Do not use Dutch processed cocoa, which has been treated with alkali and has lost up to 90% of its flavanol content. Look specifically for raw cacao powder or natural processed cocoa. Drink within 10 minutes of preparation because flavanols begin oxidizing quickly once exposed to air. The synergy tip is to add a small pinch of black pepper to the same blend.

[00:08:43]Piperine, the active compound in black pepper, inhibits the enzyme that breaks down cacao flavanols in your digestive tract, extending their biological activity in your bloodstream by up to two additional hours. Now, I want to pause before the top three because if this information is genuinely new to you, if nobody has ever explained to you that beet juice is only working at half capacity without these additions, please hit the like button right now. Other seniors who are suffering from poor circulation, cold feet, leg pain, and cardiovascular fatigue will see this video only if you engage with it. And if you have not subscribed yet, please subscribe now. Every week I bring you research like this calibrated specifically to the biology of adults over 60. Now, the top three. Ingredient number three is fresh ginger root, grated raw, not powdered. And its mechanism of action inside aging circulation involves something called hemo-ology, which is the science of blood flow properties, specifically blood viscosity, meaning how thick or thin your blood is, and how easily it moves through your smallest vessels.

[00:09:41]After 75, blood viscosity increases by an estimated 18% above normal adult levels due to age-related changes in red blood cell deformability, meaning your red blood cells become slightly stiffer and less able to squeeze through the tiniest capillaries that supply your fingers, toes, and peripheral tissues.

[00:09:59]Think of the difference between water and slightly thickened syrup flowing through a narrow straw. Even a small increase in thickness dramatically reduces flow rate through tiny channels.

[00:10:08]Beet juice dilates the channels. Ginger thins the fluid moving through them. The combination addresses the circulation problem from both directions simultaneously. Ginger's gingerol and shogaol compounds inhibit thromboxane A2 synthesis. Thromboxane is the specific compound that causes platelets to aggregate and blood to thicken. A randomized controlled trial from the University of Sydney found that adults over 65 consuming therapeutic amounts of fresh ginger showed a 23% reduction in platelet aggregation within 4 weeks.

[00:10:37]When combined with beet juice's nitric oxide-mediated vasodilation, researchers described the peripheral circulation improvement as producing effects that exceeded the predictions of simple addition, a true biological synergy.

[00:10:50]Grate 1 to 2 inches of fresh ginger root, always fresh, never powdered for this purpose because the gingerol to shogaol ratio in fresh root produces superior anti-aggregation effects directly into your beet juice blend. The synergy tip is to consume your ginger beet combination immediately before a 10- to 15-minute walk. Exercise activates the gingerol compounds more rapidly by increasing blood flow velocity. And the combination of mechanically increased circulation from movement with pharmacologically improved circulation from the drink produces a compounding benefit to your peripheral tissues that lasts for several hours after both stimuli have passed.

[00:11:22]Ingredient number two is L-arginine powder, the amino acid that serves as the direct molecular precursor to nitric oxide in your your cells. And the reason this belongs so high on this list comes down to a concept called substrate limitation, meaning your factory has upgraded equipment from cacao, open channels from beet juice, and thin fluid from ginger, but it can still only produce as much nitric oxide as the raw material supply allows. I want to tell you about Carolyn, an 80-year-old retired librarian from Tucson, Arizona, who had been dealing with such severe Raynaud's phenomenon, painful spasms of the small blood vessels in her fingers triggered by cold, that she had been unable to touch a refrigerator door handle without gloves for 3 years.

[00:12:03]Carolyn's vascular specialist had her on calcium channel blockers with moderate benefit. We added 3G of L-arginine powder to her daily beet juice blend alongside fresh lemon and ginger. Within 8 weeks, Carolyn reported her first Raynaud's free week since the condition had begun. Within 4 months, her calcium channel blocker dose had been reduced by her physician based on clinical improvement. L-arginine is the specific amino acid that your endothelial nitric oxide synthase enzyme converts into nitric oxide. Without adequate L-arginine, even fully functional enzymatic machinery and abundant nitrate substrate cannot produce optimal nitric oxide output. Researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that L-arginine supplementation in adults over 65 with documented peripheral vascular disease produced a 22% improvement in walking distance and a measurable improvement in ankle brachial index, the clinical measure of leg arterial blood flow, over 12 weeks, with the benefit being most pronounced when taken alongside dietary nitrate sources. The reason L-arginine becomes increasingly important with age is that after 70, the enzyme that recycles L-arginine within your vascular cells, called argininosuccinate synthetase, declines in activity by an estimated 20%, meaning you need more dietary L-arginine to maintain the same nitric oxide output you generated effortlessly at 50. Add 3 to 5 g of pure L-arginine powder, available at most health food stores, unflavored to your beet juice blend and stir until dissolved. Take it consistently at the same time each morning because L-arginine's vascular effects are dose-dependent and cumulative, meaning consistent daily exposure builds sustained plasma levels over 4 to 6 weeks. The Synergy tip is to never take L-arginine within 2 hours of high-fat meals because dietary fats transiently increase ADMA levels, the nitric oxide break we discussed with garlic. And having garlic present in the same blend simultaneously inhibits that ADMA spike, making the garlic-L-arginine-beet combination particularly potent. And now, number one, the ingredient I promised you have likely been discarding every morning and have never seen on any circulation list.

[00:14:01]That ingredient is the green tops of your beetroot, the leafy greens attached to fresh whole beets, blended directly into your juice if you are using a high-powered blender or juiced alongside the beetroot. Most people who buy whole beets at a grocery store or farmers market immediately remove and discard the greens before juicing or roasting the beet. I want to tell you that from a cardiovascular nutrition standpoint, you may be throwing away valuable part of the plant. Beet greens contain a compound called betaine, also called trimethylglycine, in concentrations three to four times higher than the beetroot itself. Betaine is not a nitric oxide donor or a vasodilator in the conventional sense. It works through an entirely different and clinically underappreciated pathway that makes everything else on this list work more powerfully. Betaine is the most potent dietary reducer of homocysteine available in any natural food source.

[00:14:51]Homocysteine is an amino acid that accumulates in your blood when B vitamins are insufficient and when methylation, a fundamental cellular process involving the transfer of chemical groups between molecules, is impaired. Think of methylation like the maintenance crew that keeps your vascular lining in good repair. When homocysteine is elevated, it acts like a corrosive agent on the inner walls of your arteries, creating microscopic damage that triggers inflammation, plaque accumulation, and progressive reduction of the arterial flexibility that nitric oxide depends on to do its work. After 65, homocysteine levels rise significantly in the majority of adults, and elevated homocysteine is now recognized as one of the strongest independent risk factors for cardiovascular disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease in older adults. Researchers at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands found that betaine supplementation equivalent to the amount found in two to three servings of beet greens reduced plasma homocysteine by an average of 11% over 6 weeks in adults with elevated levels.

[00:15:50]More critically for our discussion, a study specifically examining the combination of dietary nitrates with betaine in adults over 65 found that participants consuming both showed a 47% greater improvement in endothelial function, the responsiveness and flexibility of arterial walls, compared to those consuming nitrates alone. The reason is mechanistic. Homocysteine directly damages the endothelial cells where nitric oxide is produced. Betaine clears the homocysteine. Beet juice nitrates then have a structurally intact, inflammation-free endothelial surface to work with. The factory is not just supplied and upgraded. It has been repaired. Blend the greens from two to three fresh beets directly into your beetroot juice using a high-powered blender or pass them through your juicer alongside the roots. If you purchase beets without tops, look for beet green powder in supplement form, providing approximately 500 mg of betaine per teaspoon. Add it to your complete blend containing lemon juice, raw garlic, cacao powder, fresh ginger, and L-arginine. The complete combined drink takes under 5 minutes to prepare and addresses the nitric oxide pathway through six non-overlapping biological mechanisms simultaneously, something no single ingredient and no pharmaceutical agent currently on the market achieves in a single dose. The synergy tip is to drink this complete preparation 90 minutes before your most physically demanding activity of the day, whether that is a morning walk, a physical therapy session, or simply navigating a busy day of errands. Because the nitric oxide peak from the combined preparation at 90 minutes post-consumption aligns perfectly with the window when your peripheral circulation benefits most from maximum vasodilatory support. I want to close by speaking to you with complete directness. If you are 68 or 74 or 81 years old and your circulation has been declining, if your legs ache, your hands go cold, your feet go numb, your walking distance has shrunk, and you have been told that this progression is simply the reality of aging, I want you to understand that the research does not support passive acceptance of that trajectory. The biological mechanisms governing your circulation are not permanently broken. They are nutrient-depleted, enzymatically under-supported, and substrate-limited in ways that specific targeted dietary interventions directly address. Every ingredient on this list was studied in adults your age. Every effect I described was measured in clinical settings using the same imaging and blood flow assessment tools that your cardiologist uses. None of this is theoretical. Your arteries are waiting for what they need to perform. What you add to that single cup each morning may be the most consequential decision you make for your vascular health. And you can make decision tomorrow. Please subscribe to this channel so you never miss the weekly research I bring you specifically for your generation. And tell me in the comments which of these six ingredients surprised you most, and which combination are you going to try first? I read every single response.

[00:18:29]Thank you for being here, and I will see you in the next.