Calories in Beets

What makes beets so powerful?

The modern beet as we know it didn't exist until the 16th century. For millennia, humans cultivated beets exclusively for their leafy greens, which we now call Swiss chard. The swollen, fleshy root only emerged through selective breeding in Europe during the late 1500s. By the 18th century, German chemist Andreas Marggraf discovered that sucrose could be extracted from the root, leading to the development of the distinct sugar beet variety that now supplies a major portion of the world's refined sugar. The deep crimson color of table beets comes from betalain pigments, specifically betacyanins. Unlike anthocyanins found in berries and red cabbage, betalains are nitrogen-based compounds and are relatively rare in the plant kingdom. These pigments are highly water-soluble, which is why boiling beets often leaches their color into the cooking water. Consuming beets can also cause beeturia, a harmless condition where betalain pigments are excreted in urine, turning it pink or red in roughly 10 to 14 percent of the population, depending on genetic factors and stomach acid levels.