Beetroot vs L-Citrulline for Nitric Oxide & Pre-Workout Performance: Which Should You Choose?

Walk through the pre-workout section of an Indian supplement store and you will see the same promise on dozens of tubs:

“Nitric oxide. Bigger pump. Better blood flow. More performance.”

Two ingredients commonly used for that goal are beetroot and L-citrulline.

They sound like competitors, but beetroot vs L-citrulline is actually a comparison between two different nitric-oxide pathways.

Beetroot provides dietary nitrate, which can be converted through nitrate → nitrite → nitric oxide.

L-citrulline raises circulating L-arginine, which the body can use to generate nitric oxide through nitric oxide synthase.

Both mechanisms are legitimate.

But their human performance evidence—and the type of exercise in which they appear most useful—are not identical.

Key Takeaways

• Beetroot and L-citrulline increase nitric-oxide availability through different biochemical pathways.
• Beetroot's performance evidence is built mainly around dietary nitrate, not the words “beetroot extract” alone.
• A meta-analysis of 34 nitrate studies found a small improvement in muscular endurance and only a trivial improvement in strength.
• Nitrate evidence is generally stronger for exercise economy, endurance capacity and selected intermittent/high-intensity activities than for maximal strength.
• L-citrulline and citrulline malate should not be treated as identical products.
• A 2026 meta-analysis of 30 citrulline-malate randomized trials found only a small overall performance effect, with low-to-very-low certainty.
• Citrulline-malate research shows a small benefit for repetitions to failure in resistance exercise but not a consistent increase in maximal strength.
• Acute citrulline has not shown a significant pooled benefit for endurance performance.
• There is no convincing evidence that one universally beats the other.
• For strength and muscle gain, neither has an evidence base comparable with creatine plus progressive resistance training.

Beetroot vs L-Citrulline: How Do They Increase Nitric Oxide?

Your body has more than one way to produce nitric oxide.

That is the first concept to understand.

Beetroot: nitrate → nitrite → nitric oxide

Beetroot is naturally rich in inorganic nitrate.

After ingestion, nitrate enters the circulation and is secreted into saliva. Oral bacteria help reduce nitrate to nitrite. Nitrite can then be converted into nitric oxide in the body.

This pathway becomes particularly interesting during exercise and conditions where oxygen availability changes.

The WellBeingMora article on how beetroot and dietary nitrate support nitric-oxide production explains this enterosalivary pathway in more detail.

L-citrulline: citrulline → arginine → nitric oxide

L-citrulline is an amino acid.

After absorption, much of it is converted in the kidneys into L-arginine. Arginine can then act as a substrate for nitric oxide synthase, producing nitric oxide.

A review of nitric-oxide precursors describes nitrate and citrulline as two biologically distinct strategies for increasing nitric-oxide availability rather than interchangeable versions of the same ingredient.

What Does Human Research Show for Beetroot?

Dietary nitrate has a substantial exercise-research base.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of 34 studies found that nitrate supplementation produced a small significant improvement in muscular endurance, while the effect on muscular strength was statistically significant but trivial in size. 

Endurance findings are also nuanced.

A meta-analysis examining 47 studies and 76 exercise trials found that dietary nitrate produced a significant small-to-moderate improvement in time-to-exhaustion, while pooled time-trial performance was not significantly improved.

More recent analyses suggest there can also be small benefits in certain short-duration or repeated high-intensity exercise outcomes, although not every performance measure responds.

This is why the evidence-first description should be:

dietary nitrate may produce small performance improvements in specific contexts.

Not:

beetroot transforms every workout.

Timing Matters More for Beetroot Than Many Product Labels Suggest

The nitrate pathway is not instant.

In a controlled dose-response experiment, plasma nitrite peaked roughly 2–3 hours after beetroot ingestion, and exercise testing 2.5 hours after intake demonstrated dose-related physiological effects. 

An expert consensus subsequently recommended taking an acute dietary nitrate dose approximately 2–4 hours before exercise, rather than assuming 20 or 30 minutes is enough. 

This is relevant because some consumer-facing beetroot instructions recommend only 30–60 minutes.

The research protocols are generally later.

For practical timing around running or training, the existing WellBeingMora article on beetroot for runners and exercise performance provides the broader performance context.

What Does L-Citrulline Research Actually Show?

This category becomes confusing because L-citrulline and citrulline malate are often discussed as though they are identical.

They are not.

Citrulline malate combines citrulline with malate, and the actual citrulline content depends on the ratio and quality of the material.

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis combined 30 randomized controlled trials with 644 participants. Citrulline malate produced a small overall improvement in exercise performance, but the authors rated certainty from low to very low and noted wide variation across studies.

Resistance training may be where citrulline looks somewhat more interesting.

A meta-analysis of eight placebo-controlled studies found that taking roughly 6–8 g citrulline malate 40–60 minutes before resistance exercise increased total repetitions by about 3 repetitions, or approximately 6%, on average—a small effect.

However, another meta-analysis focused on strength found no significant overall improvement in muscle strength in resistance-trained adults.

So the practical interpretation is:

citrulline may modestly help high-volume resistance performance, but it is not a proven strength booster.

What About L-Citrulline for Endurance?

This is where beetroot currently looks more convincing.

A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis pooled nine randomized trials involving 158 participants and found no significant benefit of acute citrulline supplementation for either time-to-exhaustion or time-to-completion endurance performance.

A separate meta-analysis comparing foods containing nitrate, polyphenols, arginine and citrulline found a small significant exercise-performance benefit from nitrate-rich foods—particularly beetroot—but no significant effect from the limited number of L-citrulline food studies. 

That still does not prove beetroot will beat citrulline in a direct head-to-head workout.

High-quality direct comparisons remain limited.

It means the overall evidence base currently points in different directions depending on the exercise goal.

Which Should You Choose?

Choose beetroot/dietary nitrate if:

Your main goals are:

• running or endurance,
• exercise economy,
• sustained activity,
• recreational sport,
• stimulant-free pre-workout support,
• a food-derived nitrate strategy.

The evidence is especially relevant to recreational and moderately trained athletes; highly trained athletes may show smaller or inconsistent responses.

Choose L-citrulline or citrulline malate if:

Your main interest is:

• resistance-training volume,
• pump-oriented training,
• potentially squeezing a few more repetitions from high-volume sessions,
• an amino-acid-based pre-workout rather than a nitrate source.

But read the form carefully.

8 g citrulline malate is not necessarily 8 g pure L-citrulline.

Neither automatically wins if:

You care primarily about:

• maximal strength,
• long-term muscle gain,
• fixing poor training programming,
• replacing adequate carbohydrate, hydration or protein.

The performance effects from both supplements are generally modest.

What About WellBeingMora Beetroot Extract?

The WellBeingMora Beetroot Extract Capsules use a 20:1 Beta vulgaris extract together with grape-seed extract and black pepper. The live product page positions the formula around blood flow, stamina and exercise support. 

There is an important evidence limitation.

The clinical exercise literature discussed above typically specifies the amount of nitrate, often in mmol or milligrams.

The current WellBeingMora product page specifies a 20:1 beetroot extract ratio, but the page available in this audit does not provide a standardized nitrate amount.

Those are not equivalent measurements.

Therefore, it would be scientifically unsafe to say:

“This capsule delivers the same nitrate dose as the beetroot-juice trials.”

unless nitrate content has actually been quantified.

The stronger, compliant position is:

the formula uses concentrated beetroot extract, while the strongest sports-performance evidence applies specifically to nitrate doses measured in human trials.

For shoppers interested broadly in workout stamina rather than one ingredient, the WellBeingMora Energy & Stamina collection is the relevant category.

Which Has the Better Safety Profile?

Both are generally well tolerated in healthy adults at studied doses.

Beetroot can temporarily turn urine or stool pink-red, which is harmless.

Because dietary nitrate can lower blood pressure in some contexts, people who already have low blood pressure or use blood-pressure-lowering medication should be more thoughtful about concentrated intake.

Citrulline can produce gastrointestinal discomfort in some users, particularly at larger pre-workout doses.

The bigger concern is often not safety but formula complexity.

Many Indian pre-workout products combine citrulline with large amounts of caffeine, niacin, beta-alanine and multiple proprietary ingredients. Side effects from the finished formula should not automatically be blamed on citrulline itself.

For Strength and Muscle Gain, There Is a More Important Supplement

If your goal is primarily increasing strength, power or lean mass, the debate between beetroot and citrulline can become a distraction.

Creatine monohydrate has a much larger and more consistent evidence base for high-intensity exercise capacity and training adaptation.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition describes creatine monohydrate as the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training. 

So the hierarchy matters.

Training programme → protein and calories → sleep → creatine where relevant → smaller performance aids such as nitrate or citrulline.

A better pump is not the same thing as better long-term adaptation.

Bottom Line

The answer to beetroot vs L-citrulline depends on what you want from your pre-workout.

Choose beetroot/dietary nitrate when endurance, exercise economy, sustained activity and a stimulant-free nitrate pathway are the priority.

Choose L-citrulline/citrulline malate when resistance-training volume and acute pump-oriented performance are the main goals.

Neither is clearly superior for everything.

And neither should be marketed as a dramatic performance enhancer—the average effects reported in controlled research are generally small.

Most importantly for beetroot products:

the exercise evidence is nitrate-dose evidence.

A 20:1 extract ratio does not by itself tell you how much nitrate is present.

That is exactly the kind of distinction worth checking before buying any nitric-oxide supplement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Is beetroot better than L-citrulline for nitric oxide?

Both can increase nitric-oxide availability through different pathways. Beetroot has stronger overall evidence for nitrate-based endurance and exercise-economy effects, while citrulline has some evidence for resistance-training volume.

Q2. Which is better for gym workouts: beetroot or citrulline?

Citrulline malate may provide a small benefit for repetitions to failure, while nitrate may modestly support muscular endurance and certain high-intensity outcomes. Neither is a major strength enhancer. 

Q3. Which is better for running?

The overall evidence currently favours dietary nitrate more than acute citrulline for endurance exercise.

Q4. Is L-citrulline the same as citrulline malate?

No. L-citrulline is the amino acid itself; citrulline malate combines citrulline with malate. Product ratios can change how much actual citrulline you receive.

Q5. How long before exercise should I take beetroot?

Controlled nitrate research generally supports roughly 2–4 hours before exercise, when plasma nitrite is near its peak. 

Q6. How long before exercise is citrulline usually taken?

Many resistance-training studies use citrulline malate around 40–60 minutes before training. 

Q7. Does beetroot give a better muscle pump?

It can increase nitrate-derived nitric-oxide availability, but pump is a subjective outcome and does not automatically mean better muscle growth.

Q8. Can I take beetroot and citrulline together?

The mechanisms are different, so combining them is biologically plausible, but strong evidence showing that the combination meaningfully outperforms either alone is limited.

Q9. Does a 20:1 beetroot extract mean it contains a clinical nitrate dose?

No. Extract ratio describes concentration of starting plant material relative to extract; it does not by itself state nitrate content. A nitrate-standardized amount would need to be provided separately.

Q10. Which is better than both for strength and muscle gain?

For those specific goals, creatine monohydrate has substantially stronger direct evidence than either beetroot or citrulline