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TECH NEWS

Science In Sport launch new Nitrate range that claims to help cyclists 'use less oxygen at higher workloads’

The new range “enables you to go faster for longer" they claim

The new range includes powders, shots, bars and gels for pre-loading and intra-session intake.

In the pursuit of those famous marginal gains, nutrition is key. There are plenty of products out there, from simple carbohydrate drinks through to the fancy-sounding and very expensive ketones. Some are genuinely useful and provide a tangible performance benefit. Some stray more towards snake-oil.

Review: Science in Sport Beta Fuel

The latest performance nutrition products from SIS centres around Nitrate which SIS’ Dr James Morton suggests “can improve […] cycling efficiency, by reducing the oxygen cost of exercise.” This, they claim, “enables you to go faster for longer.”

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SIS Performance Nitrate gel 2

The evidence that Morton references has lead to the recommendation that “chronic loading can further enhance performance compared to just pre-race strategies”. You will need to take quite a bit for the loading to be effective with “upwards of 1000mg nitrate per day for 3-7 days prior to a competition” needed.

What the known research states

Ingested nitrates are reduced to nitrite and nitric oxide on the tongue, in the stomach, within circulation and in the muscle. As nitric oxide is important in several processes that may support or enhance exercise performance, it is perhaps this nitrate-to-nitrite-to-nitric oxide journey that is crucial when considering the performance enhancing capacity of nitrate supplementation. Following intake, blood nitrate concentration peaks after 1-2 hours and blood nitrite peaks after 2-3 hours. The body stores of nitrate and nitrite may also be increased through dietary intake.

Using a combination of chronic loading, an acute dose and intra-session intake, plasma nitrate was significantly elevated after 90 minutes and plasma nitrite was significantly elevated after 120 minutes of riding when compared to chronic and acute dosing only. This elevated plasma nitrate and nitrite attenuated the rise in oxygen uptake from 30-120 minutes compared to placebo, resulting in a reduced oxygen cost of exercise for those using nitrates during exercise. 

Dr James Morton, Science in Sport - read more here

The new range includes a Performance Nitrate Gel for use during exercise. It packs 20g Carbohydrate & 250mg Nitrates per gel and is available in apple, blood orange or strawberry flavour. A box of 30 gels will cost £55.

SIS Performance Nitrate powder 2

For before & during exercise, the Performance Nitrate Bar offers 30g Carbohydrate & 250mg Nitrates per bar. The bars are available individually (£1.89) or as a box of six (£11). They are available in apple or strawberry flavour

For chronic loading in the days prior to a big event, the Performance Nitrate Power provides 48g Carbohydrate & 500mg Nitrates per serving. It is available in pink grapefruit or cherry cola flavour and will cost £23 for a 550g bag.

We’ll load up on nitrate and report back.

scienceinsport.com/nitrate

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21 comments

Avatar
slappop | 3 years ago
0 likes

You only need to eat about 1kg of beetroot to get 1g of nitrates. They can be eaten in many ways: pickled, mashed, roasted and are generally delicious.

Avatar
check12 | 3 years ago
3 likes

500ml of beetroot juice 1hr before exercise, and no your not dieing when your poo comes out the next day and it looks like your bleeding on the inside!

comes in a black 1ltr carton iirc

Avatar
Sriracha replied to check12 | 3 years ago
2 likes
check12 wrote:

500ml of beetroot juice 1hr before exercise, and no your not dieing when your poo comes out the next day and it looks like your bleeding on the inside!

comes in a black 1ltr carton iirc

No, you're not dying, you're dyeing.

Avatar
check12 replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
1 like

You've been dieing(sick) to use that, I can tell

Avatar
Sriracha replied to check12 | 3 years ago
2 likes
check12 wrote:

You've been dieing(sick) to use that, I can tell

Actually I'm dying to know what dieing is. Using a die, maybe?  3

Avatar
check12 replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
2 likes

Sorry top secret performance boost, keeping it to myself while it's not banned by the uci, when it's banned I'll dievulge it.

Avatar
srchar replied to check12 | 3 years ago
2 likes

check12 wrote:

You've been dieing(sick) to use that, I can tell

sick(sic)

Avatar
check12 replied to srchar | 3 years ago
1 like

srchar wrote:

check12 wrote:

You've been dieing(sick) to use that, I can tell

sick(sic)

Sic(sick) Burbridge et Alan

Avatar
Stebbo replied to check12 | 3 years ago
2 likes

Beetroot juice is also a natural blood pressure reducing product. 

Avatar
spen | 3 years ago
0 likes

What the known research states.... according to an employee of the manufacturer.  Hmmmmmm

Avatar
Liam Cahill replied to spen | 3 years ago
1 like

To be fair, Morton is referencing peer-reviewed studies. 

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spen replied to Liam Cahill | 3 years ago
0 likes

The problem is that the research is anything but clear.  Leaving aside the rediculously smalls ample size, normally between 10 and 20 individuals split into two groups, the repeated finding that untrained people show an effect while trained athletes don't, that the effect, where it is found appears to be dependent on the type of exercise performed and the real killer, the use of time to exhaustion which has so many variables within it to make it all but meaningless, when studies are compared to each other in a meta analysis some find an effect, some don't.  Put simply this is marketing hype, eat a healthy diet and spend the money on some new shades, looking good probably has a similar effect. 

Avatar
Sriracha | 3 years ago
0 likes

Or, eat your veg like grandma always told you.

"The upshot? If you want to eat the right kinds of nitrates and nitrites and avoid the potentially carcinogenic ones, then eat a widely varied diet with at least five servings a day of fruit and vegetables, and avoid nibbling on processed meats too often. That way, the benefits of nitrates and nitrates will almost certainly outweigh the downsides."

And, maybe avoid doubling up the Nitrate shake with a protein shake too.
"https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190311-what-are-nitrates-in-food-si..."

Avatar
hawkinspeter replied to Sriracha | 3 years ago
1 like

...and eat loads of beetroot.

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Rapha Nadal | 3 years ago
4 likes

Do you know what else will help you ride faster for longer? A bit of training. 

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Dangerous Dan | 3 years ago
0 likes

Hey!  Isn't sodium nitrate used to cure Balogna?

https://croghanmeatmarket.com/blog/30-nitrates

So does that make this stuff like a lot of Balogna?

Avatar
slappop replied to Dangerous Dan | 3 years ago
1 like

Balogna is a French commune on the island of Corsica. What is it you want to cure it of?

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Dangerous Dan replied to slappop | 3 years ago
0 likes

blush

OK, Baloney then, OR, Bologna sausage.

By the way, here in the US we can buy 100 grams of sodium nitrate for under $10.

A gram in your Kool-Aid (if you ar ea Kool-Aid drinker) should do the trick.

WAIT!  Don't do that!!! 

Maybe do what has been pointed out: eat a balanced diet with plenty of vegetables and don't worry about it.

Avatar
Veloism | 3 years ago
1 like

Nothing at all new here, Beet-It has been around for years. SiS are 6 years late to the nitrate party...

Avatar
OnTheRopes replied to Veloism | 3 years ago
0 likes

Veloism wrote:

Nothing at all new here, Beet-It has been around for years. SiS are 6 years late to the nitrate party...

True but Beet It is still a bit of a best kept secret, if they have better marketing that will take it to the masses (and it doesn't make you pee red) then it will sell.

Avatar
Cresser replied to OnTheRopes | 3 years ago
0 likes

And Beet It does taste like drinking mud, this has to be more palatable. 

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