It is famous for its juice value and medicinal properties; and known by several common names like beet, chard, spinach beet, sea beet, garden beet, and white beet.
Today, beetroot is grown in many countries worldwide, is regularly consumed as part of the normal diet, and commonly used in manufacturing as a food colouring agent known as E162.
The usually deep-red roots of beetroot are eaten boiled either as a cooked vegetable, or cold as a salad after cooking and adding oil and vinegar, or raw and shredded, either alone or combined with any salad vegetable. It also can made into soup, which is popular in many Eastern and Central European countries.
There are huge numbers of red beetroot-based dietary supplements and functional food on the market: juice and juice mixtures (predominantly, with lemon juice), gels, fermented and fractionated juice, dried powder (tablets, capsules, micro-capsulated formulations, crunchy beetroot slices) and beetroot enriched bread.
Beetroots main benefits are that it contains no fat, very few calories and is a great source of fibre. The best quality and root colour are obtained when the air temperature ranges between 10 and 18 ºC. In contrast to fruits, the main sugar in beetroot is sucrose.
Modern pharmacology shows that red beet extracts exhibit antihypertensive and hypoglycaemic activity as well as excellent antioxidant activity.
Applications and health benefits of beetroot
