Supplements that can improve VO₂ max | Olav Aleksander Bu and Peter Attia
Peter Attia MDPublished on June 19, 2025
Summary authored by editor@wellifi.com
TLDR Summary
Beetroot concentrate and pine bark extract are explored for their potential to enhance athletic performance by boosting nitric oxide production and improving VO2 max. While beetroot shows measurable benefits in amateur athletes, pine bark extract's adaptogen properties offer new possibilities, especially for elite athletes. The ongoing research highlights the complexity of optimizing athletic performance through nutrition.
Key Points
- Beetroots and beetroot concentrate supplements can improve VO2 max by increasing nitric oxide production, enhancing blood flow and oxygen delivery during exercise.
- Despite their benefits, the impact of nitrate-rich supplements appears to be less significant among elite athletes, likely due to their already optimized cardiovascular systems.
- Plasma's pine bark extract adaptogen offers a novel approach by facilitating the conversion of nitrate to nitric oxide, potentially overcoming the limitations faced by direct nitrate supplementation.
- Initial feedback from athletes using the pine bark extract adaptogen suggests improvements in respiration and readiness for subsequent efforts, though more research is needed to quantify its impact.
- The exploration of dietary supplements and adaptogens in sports science continues to reveal complex interactions between nutrition, physiology, and athletic performance.
Unlocking Athletic Potential: The Role of Nitric Oxide and Adaptogens
For athletes striving to enhance their performance, understanding the science behind VO2 max and the role of specific nutrients and supplements can be a game-changer. VO2 max, a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can use during intense exercise, is a key indicator of cardiovascular fitness and aerobic endurance. However, improving VO2 max involves more than just intense training; certain dietary components can also play a crucial role.
The Power of Beetroots and Nitrate
Beetroots have long been recognized for their health benefits, particularly in the context of athletic performance. The secret lies in their high nitrate content, which the body converts into nitric oxide. Nitric oxide acts as a vasodilator, essentially 'opening up the plumbing' of the body's cardiovascular system, allowing for improved blood flow and, subsequently, enhanced oxygen delivery to muscles during exercise. This mechanism can lead to measurable improvements in VO2 max, particularly in amateur athletes, with studies suggesting an effect size of around 5%.
Limitations and Breakthroughs
Despite the promising effects of nitrate-rich supplements like beetroot concentrate, their impact seems to diminish among elite athletes, who may already have optimized cardiovascular systems. This observation led researchers to explore other avenues for enhancing nitric oxide production and its benefits for VO2 max.
Enter a company named Plasma, which took a novel approach by focusing on the catalysis of nitrate to nitric oxide conversion. Instead of supplying the body with more nitrate, Plasma developed a supplement from Pine bark extract, an adaptogen known to facilitate this conversion process. This innovative strategy aims to sidestep the limitations observed with direct nitrate supplementation, offering a new potential pathway to enhancing athletic performance.
Observations and Outcomes
The use of Plasma's pine bark extract adaptogen has generated positive anecdotal feedback from athletes, noting improvements in respiration and readiness for subsequent efforts. While these observations are promising, they also highlight the complexity of human physiology and the challenge of quantifying the impact of such interventions. Preliminary results indicate not only a potential boost in performance but also a decrease in biochemical efficiency, suggesting a complex interaction between the supplement, nitric oxide production, and overall metabolic processes.
Conclusion
The quest to enhance VO2 max and athletic performance through dietary supplements illustrates the intricate balance between nutrition, physiology, and athletic achievement. While beetroot and nitrate-rich supplements offer a straightforward approach to boosting nitric oxide levels, the exploration of adaptogens like pine bark extract presents an exciting frontier in sports science. As research continues, the potential for these natural compounds to unlock new levels of athletic performance remains an area ripe for discovery.