Does beetroot juice help with anemia?

There is no good evidence that it does. We found no randomized trial of beetroot or beetroot juice for anemia. The one beetroot study that made it into a systematic review gave adolescent girls 6.8 fl oz (200 mL) of juice made from 2.1 oz (60 g) of beetroot every day for 7 days, and it was not randomized. A glass of beet juice of 248 g holds about 1.4 mg of iron, according to USDA data, and it is plant iron, which the body absorbs poorly. Daily iron tablets have the trials behind them: a Cochrane review found they cut the risk of anemia in menstruating women by 61 percent.

Myth. The popular claim that beetroot juice treats anemia has no trial behind it. A glass holds about 1.4 mg of poorly absorbed plant iron, and the one study cited for it was a one-week before-and-after comparison.

What the trials found

One review, one beetroot study

A 2025 systematic review gathered 10 studies of local iron-rich snacks and juices in girls aged 10 to 19, mostly in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Five were randomized and five were quasi-experiments. The reviewers reported a potential rise in hemoglobin across these foods and rated the randomized evidence low quality, mostly because of high risk of bias and imprecision. Only one of the 10 studies used beetroot juice, and the review gives no separate effect for it.

That beetroot study was not randomized. The girls drank the juice for 7 days and were compared with themselves before and after. The study itself is not in PubMed, so we know it only through the review. Similar small before-and-after studies of beetroot juice appear in local journals. None of them is a randomized trial.

How much iron is in the glass

USDA lists beet juice at 0.57 mg of iron per 3.5 oz (100 g), or about 1.4 mg in a 248 g glass. That iron is nonheme iron, the plant form. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements puts iron absorption at about 5 to 12 percent from vegetarian diets, against 14 to 18 percent from mixed diets that include substantial meat, seafood and vitamin C. A glass of beet juice is a small amount of iron in its least absorbed form.

What does work

Iron tablets are the comparison that matters. A 2016 Cochrane review of 67 trials in 8,506 menstruating women tested daily oral iron. For the anemia outcome, measured in 10 trials and 3,273 women, those taking iron were 61 percent less likely to be anemic at the end (risk ratio 0.39, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.60, moderate quality evidence). Across 51 studies hemoglobin rose by 5.30 g/L (95% CI 4.14 to 6.45, high quality evidence). The review's anemia figure is relative, and the abstract does not give how many women were anemic at the start, so we cannot turn it into an absolute number.

Tablets have a cost. In five trials with 521 women, stomach and gut side effects were about twice as common on iron (risk ratio 1.99, 95% CI 1.26 to 3.12, low quality evidence). That is a real reason people look for a food instead. It does not make beetroot juice a proven substitute.

Red urine

Pink or red urine after eating beetroot is said to occur in 10 to 14 percent of people. A 1993 paper on beetroot pigments states that it is more common in iron deficiency and malabsorption. That is a background statement in the paper and not its own result, but if it holds, red urine after beets is a possible sign of low iron. It is not evidence that beets treat it.

For the rest of what is known about beet juice, see the beet juice page.

Who should be careful

Not for everyone. The bigger risk is the delay. Anemia has several causes, and a juice cannot tell you which one you have. If you have been told you are anemic, or you suspect it, a blood test and a cause come first. Treating it with beetroot juice for weeks can leave the real problem untouched.

Beetroot juice itself carries a caution for people who drink it daily. A systematic review of beetroot juice warns that drinking it can easily push nitrate intake above the acceptable daily intake, and that data on what this does are limited. The worry the reviewers name is the body's own formation of N-nitroso compounds, some of which are carcinogenic.

If you take iron tablets and your stomach objects, that side effect is common and documented, and it is worth raising with whoever prescribed them before swapping the tablets for juice.

What expert bodies say

The World Health Organization calls iron deficiency the most common cause of anemia. It lists other causes as well: acute and chronic infections with inflammation, blood loss, shortages of folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin A, and inherited traits such as thalassemia. A food rich in iron does nothing for most of those.

The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements explains that plant foods supply nonheme iron, absorbed at a lower rate than iron from mixed diets with meat and vitamin C. We found no expert body that recommends beetroot juice for anemia.

How we searched

What would change this answer

• A randomized trial of beetroot juice against a control drink in people with iron deficiency, lasting weeks rather than days, with ferritin and hemoglobin as outcomes. We found none registered.
• A trial that compares beetroot juice with iron tablets head to head, since tablets are the treatment with the evidence.
• Data on what months of daily beetroot juice does to nitrate intake, which is the safety question the existing review could not answer.

Sources

1. ev-bjan-01 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · systematic review of randomized and non-randomized trials (GRADE, RoB 2) · n = 10 studies (5 RCTs, 5 quasi-experiments)
   Low quality was observed in RCT studies, which were mostly due to high risk of bias and imprecision (Supplementary Table 1).
   
   Who: adolescent girls 10-19 years, mostly Indonesia, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan
   Effect: potential rise in hemoglobin reported; GRADE low quality; no pooled effect for beetroot
   Certainty: The only synthesis that contains beet juice; the effect of beet juice was not assessed separately.
   Advances in Nutrition, 2025, Efficacy of Iron-Rich Snacks in Improving Iron Status Among Adolescent Girls (10-19 Years): A Systematic Review · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
2. ev-bjan-02 · Observational data · quasi-experiment (pre-post), as described in the systematic review · n = —
   One trial had the beetroot juice as an intervention, containing 60 g of beetroot, consumed in the form of 200 mL of juice, daily for 7 days [31].
   
   Who: adolescent girls (quasi-experiment within the 2025 review)
   Effect: before-after comparison only; no randomized control
   Certainty: A primary study outside PubMed; the effect for beetroot is not given separately in the review text.
   Advances in Nutrition, 2025, Efficacy of Iron-Rich Snacks in Improving Iron Status Among Adolescent Girls (10-19 Years): A Systematic Review · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the fulltext
3. ev-bjan-03 · Position of an expert body · food composition database · n = —
   Beet juice, FNDDS code 73105000, fdc_id 2709682: Iron, Fe 0.57 MG per 100 g; Quantity not specified 248 g, 1.4 MG; 1 fl oz 31 g, 0.2 MG
   
   Who: USDA FNDDS food composition data
   Effect: 0.57 mg iron/100 g; 248 g = 1.4 mg; 1 fl oz 31 g = 0.2 mg
   Certainty: For comparison: the RDA for women is 18 mg; the preparations in the Cochrane review are tens of mg.
   USDA FNDDS, food code 73105000, Beet juice (fdc_id 2709682) · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the dataset
4. ev-bjan-04 · Position of an expert body · government fact sheet · n = —
   The bioavailability of iron is approximately 14% to 18% from mixed diets that include substantial amounts of meat, seafood, and vitamin C (ascorbic acid, which enhances the bioavailability of nonheme iron) and 5% to 12% from vegetarian diets [2,4].
   
   Who: general population
   Effect: bioavailability 14-18% mixed diets with meat vs 5-12% vegetarian diets
   Certainty: Beet is a plant non-heme iron; vitamin C enhances, phytates and polyphenols inhibit.
   NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Iron Fact Sheet for Health Professionals · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section
5. ev-bjan-05 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs and quasi-RCTs · n = 10 studies, 3273 women (anemia outcome)
   Women receiving iron were significantly less likely to be anaemic at the end of intervention compared to women receiving control (risk ratio (RR) 0.39 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.25 to 0.60, 10 studies, 3273 women, moderate quality evidence).
   
   Who: menstruating women aged 12-50, daily oral iron vs control or placebo
   Effect: RR 0.39 (95% CI 0.25 to 0.60), moderate quality; hemoglobin MD 5.30 g/L (4.14 to 6.45), 51 studies, high quality
   Certainty: Comparative card: what works against iron deficiency anemia; nothing about beets.
   Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2016 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
6. ev-bjan-06 · Meta-analysis or systematic review · Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis · n = 521
   Five studies recruiting 521 women identified an increased prevalence of gastrointestinal side effects in women taking iron (RR 1.99, 95% CI 1.26 to 3.12, low quality evidence).
   
   Who: menstruating women, five trials
   Effect: GI side effects RR 1.99 (95% CI 1.26 to 3.12), low quality evidence
   Certainty: Explains why people look for a "food" replacement; the replacement is not demonstrated.
   Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2016 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
7. ev-bjan-07 · Observational data · systematic review · n = —
   Drinking BRJ may easily increase nitrate intake above the acceptable daily intake, which is known to stimulate the endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds (NOC's), a class of compounds that is known to be carcinogenic and that may also induce several other adverse effects.
   
   Who: published literature on beetroot juice, nitrate and nitric oxide
   Effect: nitrate intake can exceed ADI; endogenous N-nitroso compound formation; harm data limited
   Certainty: Daily juice for weeks (as in the "on hemoglobin" studies) is exactly this scenario.
   Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2021 · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
8. ev-bjan-08 · Observational data · human pharmacokinetic survey plus animal experiments · n = 100
   Beeturia, the passage of pink or red urine after the ingestion of beetroot, is said to occur in 10-14% of the population, and is more common in iron deficiency and malabsorption.
   
   Who: 100 normal subjects given 60 mg beetroot extract; rat experiments
   Effect: urinary betacyanin recovery 0.06-0.54% (betacyanin 1); 4 subjects had visibly red urine
   Certainty: The link with iron deficiency is a background statement of the article (1960s-1990s), not its own result.
   Pharmacogenetics, 1993, Beeturia and the biological fate of beetroot pigments · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the abstract
9. ev-bjan-09 · Position of an expert body · WHO information page · n = —
   Iron deficiency is considered to be the most common cause of anaemia; other causes include acute and chronic infections that result in inflammation and blood loss; deficiencies of other vitamins and minerals, especially folate, vitamin B12 and vitamin A; and genetically inherited traits, such as thalassaemia.
   
   Who: global
   Effect: anemia has multiple causes; diet alone does not address non-iron causes
   Certainty: So juice does not replace diagnosing the cause of anemia.
   WHO, Nutrition Landscape Information System, Anaemia · checked 2026-10-07 · we read the section