Is beet root powder safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about beet root powder during pregnancy?

1. Beetroot juice supplies dietary nitrate, which the body converts toward nitric oxide, a natural blood-vessel relaxant, and in a crossover study of healthy adults it produced a roughly 5 mmHg drop in aortic systolic blood pressure that peaked around 30 minutes and did not last a full day. 1
2. Beets are specifically named among high-oxalate foods, and high urinary oxalate is a meaningful contributor to calcium-oxalate kidney stones, the most common stone type, which is why a low-oxalate approach is generally recommended for anyone with a history of these stones. 2
3. In a rat study of maternal nitrate supplementation at a dose comparable to a DASH-diet level of intake, the authors reported metabolic benefits in the offspring, but they were explicit that this preclinical, animal-only work is only a first step and doesn't establish safety for human pregnancy. 3
4. A feasibility trial gave pregnant women with chronic kidney disease a daily 70 mL beetroot juice shot supplying 400 mg of dietary nitrate from 12 weeks of gestation onward, and reported no signals of harm to mother or baby, including no increase in hyperkalemia or symptomatic low blood pressure. 4
5. The relationship between diet and stone risk is measurable: 24-hour urinary oxalate rises by about 1.7 mg for every 100 mg of dietary oxalate consumed, and researchers note that even a modest 4 mg change in urinary oxalate can shift stone-formation risk by 60 to 100%, the kind of swing a concentrated beet powder serving could plausibly cause compared with eating whole beets. 2

Is beet root powder safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Nausea is common now, and some people reach for tart or savory options like beet products, but there's no dedicated pregnancy safety data on concentrated beet powder specifically. Whole beets or a modest beet juice serving are the better-studied choice for early pregnancy.
• Second trimester. Interest in beet products for energy or exercise performance often comes up around this time. The dietary-nitrate research most relevant to pregnancy so far comes from small trials in specific groups, like women with chronic kidney disease, not general healthy-pregnancy use.
• Third trimester. Blood pressure checks become more frequent now, which is exactly the area dietary nitrate research is exploring, though that evidence is still early and not established as a preeclampsia strategy. If blood pressure is a concern for you at this stage, bring it to your provider directly instead of relying on a beet supplement.