Cherries for Healthy Muscles

Research often indicates the health benefits of fruits and vegetables. Now we can add cherries to the list.

Results of a survey published in the online edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine (http://bjsm.bmjjournals.com) show that cherry juice prevents the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage.

An abstract provided by the journal stated that the study was a randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover design. Fourteen male college students each drank 12 fluid ounces of a cherry juice blend or a placebo twice per day for eight consecutive days.

The subjects engaged in eccentric elbow flexion contractions on the fourth day. Isometric elbow flexion strength, pain, muscle tenderness and relaxed elbow angle were recorded prior to, and for four days following, the exercise.

The protocol was repeated two weeks later with subjects who took the placebo initially, now taking the cherry juice (and vice versa). This time, the subjects used the opposite arm to perform the exercise.

Results showed that strength loss and pain were significantly lower in the cherry juice trial versus the placebo trial.

“These data show efficacy for this cherry juice in decreasing some of the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage,” the researchers concluded. “Most notably, strength loss averaged over the four days after eccentric exercise was 22 percent with the placebo but only 4 percent with the cherry juice.”