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.” |