Want to recover faster? Have cherries.
Athletes who drank cherry juice days before and after the race was found to recover more rapidly within a 48-hour period.
Dr Glyn Howatson, exercise physiologist and Laboratory Director in the School of Psychology and Sports Sciences, Northumbria University, conducted the study with 20 athletes who ran the London marathon. The runners drank either the cherry juice or a placebo drink twice a day for five days before the race and two days afterwards.
According to Dr. Howatson, “the phytochemicals, in particular, anthocyanins found in Montmorency cherries have anti-inflammatory and antioxidating properties, which the research has shown to be effective in helping exercises to recover from strenuous physical activity.”
Anthocyanins are also present in other fruits, plants, and leaves. It’s the one that gives them the red, purple, or blue pigment depending on the pH level. Thus, other plants rich in anthocyanins are blueberry, cranberry, bilberry, black raspberry, red raspberry, blackberry, blackcurrant, cherry, eggplant peel, black rice, concord grape and muscadine grape, red cabbage and violet petals. Anthocyanins are less abundant in banana, asparagus, pea, fennel, pear and potato.
My problem is that many of these fruits are hard to find in the Philippines. But I often see cherries in Black Forest cakes and blueberries in Blueberry Cheesecakes. 😀
Cherries anyone?
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About The Author
ManokanRunner
Jinoe Gavan is the founder of this award-winning blog Takbo.ph, The Filipino Running Community. Known as ManokanRunner, he is a computer addict on weekdays, a church leader on weekends and a runner in all days of the week. He wants to run and cover as many miles in many places as he could. Read more about his life in the urban jungle with all the distractions and the fun of raising his son in DaddyandtheCity(dot)com.
Thanks for the interesting info. The cherries on cakes we have here are maraschino cherries which are preserved and used as garnish for desserts. I assume they won’t have the same nutritional value as fresh cherries, as they are preserved. But cherry juice, as well as cranberry and black currant juice, are available in the local supermarkets.