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Episode 238 Show Notes

Heavey is going solo today as he addresses a listener’s question posted on the Strength & Scotch Instagram channel. Jeff asks about tart cherry juice/capsules. Does it play a role in recovery from inflammation?

[01:50 ] The Connection Between Tart Cherry Juice and Recovery

Cherries are high sources of antioxidants. This is the connection that’s being drawn between supplementation with cherry products and their effect on recovering from inflammation.

Increased inflammation and oxidative stress are thought to be two of the contributors to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). It’s the soreness you feel a couple days later after the workout. 

Anti-inflammatory compounds may help alleviate it. When talking about muscle soreness and anti-inflammatories, it’s also important to keep in mind that we’re walking a fine line. Inflammation is a big part of how exercise works, and if you blunt those signals, we may be blunting some of the positive that comes out of the exercise. 

Too much anti-inflammatory action could prevent us from benefiting from exercise while too little could result in really sore muscles. 

[03:08 ] Other Methods You Can Try

Back in Episode 221 on Cold Exposure, there was evidence suggesting that its usage can inhibit exercise progress in young men. Things like compression garments and massage seem to be some of the methods that have been shown to improve recovery without interfering with the positive outcome. So these are some things you might want to try to see if it helps. 

[03:38 ] Is Antioxidant Supplementation Effective on Muscle Pain?

Heavey came across a meta-analysis of 50 different studies that looked at the impact of antioxidant supplementation on muscle pain and selective recovery, primarily within a recreationally active and/or athletic population.

The studies ranged from one day to 3 months. As antioxidants, they used a wide range of products from whole food sources to Vitamin C and D in high doses. 

They looked at a bunch of things across a wide range of people to see if there was any effect on muscle pain and recovery. They noticed that muscle pain was reduced within the first 6 hours, at the 24-hour mark and at the 48- and 72-hour mark post-exercise, as a whole, from antioxidant supplementation.

The reduction, while statistically significant, was small. The author stated that they considered the degree to which recovery was improved to be clinically irrelevant. Even though they were able to measure it statistically, the difference was less than half a point on a ten-point scale.

Moreover, there was a significant increase in muscle force production post-exercise from the antioxidant group. But the effect wasn’t super high. All that being said, Heavey points out that there’s a lot of different nuances within antioxidants. Not all antioxidants are created equally.

[05:38 ] Cherries Over NSAIDs

Cherries have been shown to be beneficial for health and/or exercise. The benefits come from these phytochemicals and fiber found in the pulp and the skin. Some of the antioxidants are called flavonoids. 

Specifically, Montgomery tart cherry contains anthocyanin that is said to be the key factor in their purported health benefits. These include reduced oxidative stress, improved recovery, reduced inflammation especially in marathon runners, and improved sleep quality due to increased melatonin production.

NSAIDs may be detrimental to muscle growth as well as harmful to the GI tract and liver. And this is probably why we’re seeing an uptake in this type of research on tart cherries as alternatives.

Even if NSAIDs have been found to be counterproductive in terms of their response to exercise among the younger population, they may be beneficial to the older population with higher levels of systemic inflammation.

[07:35 ] Tart Cherries and Exercise Recovery

One study found that tart cherry juice attenuated post-exercise strength loss and muscle pain compared to placebo. Another study found similar results and showed blood markers consistent with reduced oxidative stress. Both subjective and objective measures are seen to have been improved with tart cherry supplementation.

Heavey also found one solid double-blind random control trial that looked at 23 healthy male lifters and the impact of tart cherry capsules. The results showed that those who supplemented with tart cherry reported lower levels of post-workout soreness. You could try to experiment and see this for yourself but know that your response may vary. 

[09:25 ] Potential Negative Side Effects of Tart Cherry

Cherries contain a type of carbohydrate, called polyols that can cause digestive problems for some people. Polyols actually stand for the P in FODMAP. 

Cherry juice is also very calorically dense with about 130 calories and a lot of sugar in a single cup. If you’re trying to get lean, then you might want to skip the cherry juice and go to the cherry powder.

[10:20 ] Less Is More

In conclusion, there’s little potential for downside. If you care about recovery, then supplementing can make sense. But know that you might not notice a massive difference. Keep in mind that some of the evidence suggests high doses of antioxidants may inhibit some of the positive effects of training. That being said, consider the less is more approach.

Ultimately, the majority of the research is on tart cherries. But recently, some research coming out use sweet Bing cherries and they’ve measured a similar lowering effect on inflammation. Cherries can help you, true. But the effect may be relatively small.

Links

Episode 221 on Cold Exposure

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