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Cherries Increase Athletic Endurance and Muscle Recovery after Exercise
Significant exercise generates oxidative stress as the body burns more fuel than when at rest. This has naturally generated interest in anti-oxidants to counter the effects of exercise-related oxidative damage, including abundant damage to various cellular components and premature muscular fatigue from sustained muscle contraction during exercise [1]. Antioxidant supplementation is routine amongst athletes, and although some supplement combinations may actually be inhibitive for certain exercise goals, many types of antioxidants offer profound effects on exercise performance [1]. Multiple studies have established how cherry supplementation improves athlete performance in a diverse range of sports and exercises. The same beneficial antioxidants in cherry also help with post-exercise muscle recovery, and this article summarises some of those research highlights.
Boosted Athletic Endurance.
Cherry in powder form maintains the ability to boost athletic performance. Endurance runners who took a powdered cherry supplement daily for 10 days prior managed “…13 % faster half-marathon race finish times…” than those who were give the placebo instead [2]. These athletes were matched based on their “average reported race pace”, and these runners maintained a pace closer to their average race pace than those on the placebo, indicating improved stamina or a lack of inconsistent speeds.
Concentrated cherry juice also increases athletic output. Football (i.e. soccer) players who took Montmorency tart cherry concentrate exhibited improved performance in specific muscular contraction, sprinting and agility challenges after prolonged intermittent sprint activity [3]. These footballers who had already completed prolonged intermittent sprinting benefited from 2 daily doses of cherry concentrate for 8 days.
Amongst cyclists on a 15 km trial, cherry powder supplementation providing 257 mg of anthocyanin daily produced 4.6% faster completion times than placebo takers [4]. The enhanced muscle oxygenation detected in this experiment suggests that the relaxing effect of cherry’s…
