Effects of powdered Montmorency tart cherry supplementation on acute endurance exercise performance in aerobically trained individuals

Background: the purpose of this study was to determine whether short-term supplementation of a powdered tart cherry supplement prior to and following stressful endurance exercise would affect markers of muscle damage,inflammation,oxidative stress,and/or muscle soreness. methods: 27 endurance-trained runners or triathlete (21.8 ± 3.9 years,15.0 ± 6.0 % body fat,67.4 ± 11.8 kg) men (n = 18) and women (n = 9) were matched based on average reported race pace,age,body mass,and fat free mass. subjects were randomly assigned to ingest,in a double-blind manner,capsules containing 480 mg of a rice flour placebo (p,n = 16) or powdered tart cherries [cherrypure®] (tc,n = 11). subjects supplemented one time daily (480 mg/day) for 10-d,including race day,up to 48-hr post-run. subjects completed a half-marathon run (21.1 km) under 2-hr (111.98 ± 11.9 min). fasting blood samples and quadriceps muscle soreness ratings using an algometer with a graphic pain rating scale were taken pre-run,60-min,24 and 48-h post-run and analyzed by manova with repeated measures. results: subjects in the tc group averaged 13 % faster half-marathon race finish times (p = 0.001) and tended to have smaller deviations from predicted race pace (p = 0.091) compared to p. attenuations in tc muscle catabolic markers were reported over time for creatinine (p = 0.047),urea/blood urea nitrogen (p = 0.048),total protein (p = 0.081),and cortisol (p = 0.016) compared to p. despite lower antioxidant activity pre-run in tc compared to p,changes from pre-run levels revealed a linear increase in antioxidant activity at 24 and 48-h of recovery in tc that was statistically different (16-39 %) from p and pre-run levels. inflammatory markers were 47 % lower in tc compared to p over time (p = 0.053) coupled with a significant difference between groups (p = 0.017). soreness perception between the groups was different over time in the medial quadriceps (p = 0.035) with 34 % lower pre-run soreness in tc compared to p. over the 48-h recovery period,p changes in medial quadriceps soreness from pre-run measures were smaller compared to tc. conclusion: results revealed that short-term supplementation of montmorency powdered tart cherries surrounding an endurance challenge attenuated markers of muscle catabolism,reduced immune and inflammatory stress,better maintained redox balance,and increased performance in aerobically trained individuals. © 2016 levers et al.