Research review
Does beetroot help with cancer? What the research does and doesn't show
Beetroot and cancer gets searched two ways: does beetroot have any effect on cancer, and is its nitrate content itself a cancer risk? No human trial has tested beetroot as a treatment. The research that exists is lab and animal studies of beetroot extract, plus large population studies of dietary nitrate generally.
The evidence doesn't support beetroot as a treatment, cure, or preventive measure for cancer — no human trial has tested that question. What exists instead is a mix of large population studies looking at dietary nitrate and nitrite generally, and small lab and animal studies of beetroot extract, none of which involved giving people a beetroot supplement and tracking cancer outcomes.
What the evidence doesn't support
It doesn't support beetroot juice, powder or extract as something that treats, shrinks, or prevents any type of cancer in a person. No human clinical trial identified for this page gave people beetroot and measured cancer incidence, tumor size, or survival. It also doesn't resolve the opposite worry some people search — that beetroot's nitrate content is itself a cancer risk. Both questions come up in searches, and neither has a direct human trial answering it; what follows is the closest research that exists on each.
What the trials found
The largest and most relevant evidence is a 2016 meta-analysis of 62 observational studies, pooling data from 60,627 cancer cases, on dietary nitrate and nitrite intake (from all food sources, not beetroot specifically) and site-specific cancer risk. Comparing the highest to the lowest intake levels, dietary nitrate was associated with a reduced likelihood of gastric cancer (RR 0.78) — the opposite of the "nitrate causes cancer" assumption for that particular cancer type. Dietary nitrite, a related but different compound, was associated with higher risk of glioma and thyroid cancer. For most other cancers studied — breast, bladder, colorectal, esophageal, kidney, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, ovarian and pancreatic — there was no significant association with either nitrate or nitrite intake. Two clinical reviews of dietary nitrate note that it was historically treated mainly as a food contaminant linked to stomach cancer risk (which is why nitrate levels in food and water are regulated), while more recent research has focused on its blood-pressure effects; both reviews describe the cancer association itself as small and still unproven, in either direction, for lack of long-term human data.
Below the population level, two small preclinical studies have looked at beetroot's compounds directly. A lab study exposed human prostate cancer cells (PC-3) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7) growing in a dish to red beetroot extract. Beetroot extract showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect on the cancer cells in the dish. This is cell-culture research — cells in a lab dish, not a person or even an animal — and it doesn't show what beetroot extract would do inside a human body.
A mouse study tested betanin (beetroot's red pigment) in three separate chemically-induced tumor models — two skin cancer models and one liver cancer model. Mice given oral betanin (and, in one skin model, topical betanin) alongside the cancer-causing chemicals showed significantly less tumor development than untreated mice. That's an animal study of a purified pigment compound, at a specific lab dose, in a chemically-induced cancer model — a useful early signal for future research, not evidence of what a beetroot supplement does in a person.
Questions people ask
Does beetroot juice help fight cancer?
No human trial has tested that. The research that exists is a large population study of dietary nitrate generally (mixed results depending on cancer type), plus small lab and animal studies of beetroot's compounds — none of it is a clinical trial of beetroot in people with cancer.
Do beetroot's nitrates cause cancer?
The largest study on this, a 2016 meta-analysis of 62 observational studies, found dietary nitrate intake associated with a reduced, not increased, likelihood of gastric cancer, while dietary nitrite (a related compound) was associated with higher risk of two other cancer types. Reviews of this literature describe the overall nitrate-cancer relationship as small and still unproven.
Can beetroot prevent cancer?
No human trial has tested that. A mouse study found betanin, beetroot's pigment, reduced tumor development in three chemically-induced cancer models — a preclinical finding that hasn't been tested in people.
When to talk to a doctor
A cancer diagnosis, treatment decision, or concerning symptom is a conversation for an oncologist or primary care doctor, not a supplement search. Beetroot is not a treatment for cancer, and nothing in the research above supports using it as one or as a substitute for medical care. If you're undergoing cancer treatment, talk to your care team before adding any supplement, since some can interact with chemotherapy or radiation.
Related reading: beetroot benefits: what the research does and doesn't show, beetroot: what the research shows, and beetroot interactions.
Sources
- Association between dietary nitrate and nitrite intake and sitespecific cancer risk: evidence from observational studies A 2016 meta-analysis of 62 observational studies (60,627 cancer cases) found higher dietary nitrate intake was associated with lower gastric cancer risk, while higher dietary nitrite intake was associated with higher glioma and thyroid cancer risk; most other cancer types showed no significant association with either.
- Cytotoxic effect of the red beetroot (Beta vulgaris L.) extract compared to doxorubicin (Adriamycin) in the human prostate (PC-3) and breast (MCF-7) cancer cell lines A lab study exposed human prostate and breast cancer cells in a dish to red beetroot extract and, separately, to the chemotherapy drug doxorubicin as a reference point; this is cell-culture research, not a human or animal trial, and doesn't show what beetroot does inside a person.
- Chemoprevention of DMBA-induced UV-B promoted, NOR-1-induced TPA promoted skin carcinogenesis, and DEN-induced phenobarbital promoted liver tumors in mice by extract of beetroot A mouse study found that betanin, beetroot's red pigment, reduced tumor development in three different chemically-induced cancer models when given orally (and, in one skin model, topically) alongside a cancer-causing chemical — an animal study of a purified pigment, not a human trial of a beetroot supplement.
- Dietary nitrate and blood pressure: evolution of a new nutrient? A review of dietary nitrate research describes it as historically viewed as a stomach-cancer risk factor, which is why intake is regulated, while noting that more recent research has focused on nitrate's blood-pressure effects rather than resolving the cancer question either way.
- Vascular effects of dietary nitrate (as found in green leafy vegetables and beetroot) via the nitrate-nitrite-nitric oxide pathway A clinical pharmacology review of dietary nitrate's vascular effects notes that some studies have suggested small positive and small negative associations between nitrate intake and cancer risk, but describes both as unproven, given a lack of long-term human data.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.