Beetroot

I'm no expert but find it hard to believe that a natural product could cause cancer. Why would it?

I would think that eating them (especially raw and grated) would protect against cancer. Things to avoid would be sugar, alcohol and red meat - especially processed meat.

There's an episode of Just One Thing by Michael Mosley that is available online about Eating Beetroot. Its only 14 minutes - he made a whole series of programmes on the radio about how changing one thing can improve your life.

There have been quite a few studies about the benefits of eating beetroot, shame I don’t like it much!

The only bad health thing I have heard about beetroot is that in certain people it can cause kidney stones.

Re beetroot - it's to do with nitrite.

A review in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition wrote that “If nitrite were, indeed, a carcinogen, we would be advised to avoid swallowing because saliva contains nitrite.”

Here's an interesting paper that looks at beetroot (and Mediterranean diets
and those rich in nitrite) ...

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40520-020-01760-4

Beetroot's even better for you if you eat the leaves as well. I recently found this recipe for red cabbage and applied it to beetroot-with-leaves: bakinghermann.com/all-recipes/slow-cooked-red-cabbage?rq=red%20cabbage

Beetroot is good food as are the gazillion other vegetables we have at our disposal nowadays. Variety spice of life and all that. Moderation in all things, etc.

A few years ago I had lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer. During my chemotherapy and treatment I had an insatiable desire for beetroot. I would have eaten it for every meal if I could. Now I’m in remission, I have a normal relationship with beetroot, but I’m convinced the beetroot helped my recovery .

I love pickled beetroot. When pregnant I could eat jars of it. It does alter the colour of your urine so please don’t be alarmed.

Oldbat1

I love pickled beetroot. When pregnant I could eat jars of it. It does alter the colour of your urine so please don’t be alarmed.

A colleague took me aside and said she was going to the doctor's as there was a lot of blood in her urine. When she gave him a sample he asked if she had been eating beetroot she confessed she had and he explained to her what had happened.The next day she had the staff room roaring with her tale.
Imagine our faces when she came in one lunchtime with a bunch of asparagus.

One of my all time favourites is home made beetroot falafel.

The same mix can be shaped into burgers and frozen.

I love beetroot 😋

i told my cancer doctor that i eat beetroot and red cabbage, both pickled every day, he said it was good for me.

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

I love beetroot, but don’t care overmuch for it pickled although I love other pickled foods. I buy the vacuum packed beetroot or fresh when in season, and cook it myself.

I like it roasted with roast potatoes and pumpkin. Also used to like it when they included it with a MacOz but I don’t think they have them anymore. That was the only one I liked.

Hate it...just saying and parsnips.

When I was young I hated parsnips but I think they are a great now. Very expensive here, they mustn’t grow well in our climate.

I drink a glass of beetroot juice daily (approx 150-200ml) to control blood pressure, and this helps me to reduce BP medications (which have lots of side effects).

It seems the best way to control nitrates is to have the beetroot juice fresh (ie no longer than 4-5 days in fridge once opened) which helps keep the vitamin C level high and the nitrate level low: f1000research.com/articles/7-1899

I really dislike the taste of beetroot and add in a splash of cranberry juice to mask the flavour.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016ppn

When I looked up problems with beetroot, it mentioned nitrites, the same as the reason that put me off using gravy granules.
Now I’m puzzled.

merlotgran

One of my all time favourites is home made beetroot falafel.

The same mix can be shaped into burgers and frozen.

Can you share your recipe please?

Article on the benefits and dangers of nitrates and nitrites here - www.healthline.com/nutrition/are-nitrates-and-nitrites-harmful

I’ll look it out tomorrow, Poppyred