It is also rumored to be excellent for the liver. Downside is people have gone to the doctor under the idea they had blood in their urine when it was the dye from beets. Even some doctors didn’t know this and order expensive tests to find out why they had pink urine with no traces of blood.
My mother was an excellent, if adventurous, cook. I say "was" as she doesn't really cook much anymore, instead she tells stories about what she used to cook. :-)
The other day, she told me about the first time she made borscht -- how wonderful it was, how exotic it seemed as she'd never even heard of it growing up in Kansas ... and how later that night, after eating several bowls full, she saw her urine was not just pink, but dark, dark red.
She remembers thinking, "At least I die happy."