Does beetroot lower cortisol? What the research does and doesn't show

The evidence doesn't support beetroot as a way to lower cortisol or produce a feeling of calm. Only one randomized trial has measured beetroot extract and cortisol in the same study, and it found no significant effect. Beetroot's better-documented research is about dietary nitrate and blood flow, not stress hormones.

What the evidence doesn't support

It doesn't support beetroot, in juice, powder or extract form, as something that lowers cortisol or manages stress. It also doesn't support the idea, sometimes implied by the "calming" framing around nitric oxide and blood flow, that improving circulation translates into a measurable stress-hormone or mood effect. The single trial that measured beetroot against cortisol found nothing there.

What the trials found

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial gave 61 adults (average age 65) who were at risk of age-related muscle loss one of four supplements for 6 weeks, alongside a physical activity program: a placebo, L-citrulline malate, L-arginine, or a nitrate-rich beetroot extract at 300 mg a day. Researchers tracked blood calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, testosterone and cortisol before and after. The beetroot and L-arginine groups ended up with significantly higher circulating vitamin D than the placebo or L-citrulline groups — a finding about vitamin D, not stress. Cortisol itself showed no significant change in any group, including beetroot. There was a significant shift in testosterone and the testosterone-to-cortisol ratio in the beetroot group specifically, but the researchers pointed out that group's testosterone was already unusually high before the trial started and concluded the shift wasn't something the supplement caused.

No trial identified for this page measured beetroot against a validated stress or calm questionnaire, so there's also no direct evidence one way or the other on subjective stress — only this one trial's null result on the hormone most often used as a stress-response marker.

Questions people ask

Does beetroot lower cortisol?

The one randomized trial that measured this found no significant effect from 300 mg a day of nitrate-rich beetroot extract over 6 weeks. That's a single trial in older adults, not a broad literature, but it's the only direct evidence available.

Does beetroot help with high cortisol?

No trial has tested beetroot specifically in people with elevated cortisol. The trial above enrolled older adults at risk of sarcopenia, not people selected for high cortisol, and it found no effect either way.

Is beetroot good for stress?

Nothing in the research reviewed here measured stress directly. The closest evidence is a single trial's cortisol measurement, which showed no change with beetroot supplementation.

When to talk to a doctor

Persistent stress, anxiety or symptoms that suggest a hormonal imbalance are worth discussing with a doctor rather than addressing with a supplement search. Beetroot is not a treatment for stress or elevated cortisol, and the one trial that measured the two together found no effect. If you take medication or have a diagnosed hormonal condition, talk to a doctor before adding beetroot or any other supplement.

Related reading: beetroot benefits: what the research does and doesn't show, how much beetroot should you take a day, and beetroot side effects.