Drinking cherry juice before and after exercise decreases some indicators of exercise-induced muscle damage, notably pain and loss of strength, reported Dr. Declan A.J. Connolly of the University of Vermont, Burlington, and his associates.
Tart cherries contain cyclooxygenase-inhibiting flavonoids and anthocyanins with high levels of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Moreover, “consumption of about 45 cherries a day has been shown to reduce circulating concentrations of inflammatory markers in healthy men and women,” the investigators noted.
They assessed the effects of drinking cherry juice on symptoms of muscle damage in 14 healthy men with an average age of 22 years.
The subjects drank specially formulated juice from frozen tart Montmorency cherries or a placebo drink for 8 days, then switched to the other drink for another 8 days. They drank one 12-ounce bottle in the morning and another in the evening. Each bottle of juice contained the equivalent of 50–60 cherries and provided at least 600 mg of phenolic compounds and 40 mg of anthocyanins.
After 4 days, the subjects intentionally overexercised one arm, performing a bout of elbow flexion contractions to induce later muscle soreness. The resulting loss of muscle strength was 22% with the placebo drink but only 4% with the cherry juice, the researchers said (Br. J. Sports Med. 2006;40:679–83).
The cherry drink also decreased muscle pain and shortened its duration. “Pain peaked at 24 hours in the cherry juice trial and subsequently declined, whereas pain continued to increase in the placebo trial to peak at 48 hours,” Dr. Connolly and his associates said.
“Although the results of this study indicate a protective effect of cherry juice, it is not possible to conclude that cherry juice supplementation prevented muscle damage because only two of four indirect markers of damage showed an effect.
However, there was clearly a preservation of muscle function attributable to cherry juice.
Strength was lost by 22% and 4% of theplacebo and juice groups, respectively. ELSEVIER GLOBAL MEDICAL NEWS