Benefits of a bowl of cherries
US researchers have come up with practical and tasty way to keep the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage at bay.
Fourteen male college students drank 12 fl oz of either the cherry juice blend or the placebo drink twice a day for eight consecutive days. On the fourth day they performed a bout of 2x20 maximum eccentric elbow flexion contractions. Isometric elbow flexion strength, pain, muscle tenderness and range of motion were recorded before and for four days after the exercise.
The protocol was repeated two weeks later with subjects who had had the placebo first time round now taking the cherry juice, and vice versa.
After analysing both sets of results, the researchers found that:
- Strength loss over the four days after exercise averaged 22% with the placebo but only 4% with the cherry juice;
- Pain in the elbow flexors peaked at 24 hours in the cherry juice trial and then declined, whereas it continued to increase in the placebo trial to peak at 48 hours;
- Loss of range of motion and muscle tenderness was similar in both trials.
Br J Sports Med 2006; 40:679-683