No matter if you are training for marathons, enjoying a summer league or getting in shape for swimsuit season, consider adding tart cherry juice to your daily routine. The reason is the latest evolution in sport nutrition is how eating whole foods may work as well or better then pharmaceuticals. Best of all without the side effects.
Thanks to newly published research, the human body has been found to better absorb whole foods. These health gifts from Mother Nature work synergistically to provide an overall body effect. Drinking tart cherry juice and taking whole-food, tart cherry capsules are excellent examples of offering the synergistic benefits of tart cherries.
What are the Health Benefits of Tart Cherries
Tart Cherries Fight Inflammation due to the presence of anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins are a naturally flavonoid that helps to reduce inflammation in the body naturally. Inflammation can cause stress, pain and injury. In fact, published research suggests drinking tart cherry juice or taking tart cherry capsules help to reduce muscle soreness after a workout.
To enjoy the anti-inflammatory benefits of tart cherries simply drink one ounce of tart cherry juice concentrate twice per day. Or, if you prefer, take a minimum of 1000mg of tart cherry powder. The whole-fruit powder is used to make tart cherry capsules.
Each of the last few years of scientific publications has included randomized, placebo controlled trials finding that cherry juice has benefits for athletes. Unlike much research on exercise or supplements that focuses on participants who are overweight, obese, or deconditioned, this literature generally reflects fit adults in the midst of training programs.
Research participants getting the “active” intervention consumed tart cherry juice in daily amounts that range from 8 to 12 ounces twice daily for five to eight days before strenuous exertion, and in some studies for 48 hours after. Compared to placebo, those drinking cherry juice had decreased symptoms of muscle damage, faster rates of muscle repair, and reduction in inflammation as measured by blood markers.
During and after marathon distances those using cherry juice reported pain scores that were three-fold lower than those receiving placebo. Recovery of strength was faster in the cherry juice groups.
Tart Cherries Help to Boost Immunity
Hard training or extensive racing is well known to depress your immune system. Drinking tart cherry juice concentrate may reduce upper respiratory tract issues. Thus, supporting you in crushing your goals.
Why does cherry juice work?
As with any complex natural compound, cherry juice is nutrient rich and shares much with other dark fruits; the hypothesized difference is high levels of naturally occurring antioxidants (antioxidants as supplements have not proven as effective for moderating pain with endurance events) and anti-inflammatory properties that act on the same biologic pathway as ibuprofen and its cousins to reduce reaction to muscle stress at the source within the muscle.
If you’re training to feel the burn; the anti-burn of cherries may make it more likely you can max out your sessions. What’s the downside? The form of juice used in these studies is pure, undiluted tart cherry juice without sugar added. It’s pretty tangy stuff that takes some adaptation for the taste buds, or dilution in water, or inclusion in other sources like smoothies.
Since the studies compared drinking it straight up twice a day to other juice placebos, it’s not certain that part of the beneficial effect does not come from consuming a dose all at once.
Also pay attention to pacing your carb consumption if you’re adding it to eating patterns that are stable - though tart is tart, twelve ounces contains 29 gms of carbohydrate 24 gms as sugars with a 120 calorie load, adding 240 calories a day.
The last challenge is finding a source that is consistently available and not a budget breaker. If you shop local, pure tart cherry juice (avoid kids cherry juice drinks with added water and sugar) is most often in the refrigerated cases. However, the shelf-stable cherry juice concentrate can be shipped directly to your door.
Why Do Tart Cherry Capsules Work?
Another option for getting the health benefits of tart cherries is taking the tart cherry capsules. Tart cherry capsules are made from whole-fruit cherry powder. The IQF (Individually Quick Frozen) tart cherries are processed down using low temperature and low heat. This helps to maintain nearly 100% of the health benefits of the tart cherry.
Best of all, this process, which we call FruiTraction, used the entire tart cherry including the skin, pulp and juice of the cherry. The only part of the tart cherry that isn’t used to make cherry powder is the pit and the stem.
Benefits of Cherry Juice
One of the best qualities of cherry juice is its high antioxidant content. Antioxidants are important because they scavenge for free radicals and repair their damage. The level of antioxidant capacity of a food or beverage is expressed using Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC). Suffice is to say that drinking just one and a half cup of cherry juice has the same ORAC as 23 pieces of different fruits and vegetables.
In addition, drinking tart cherry juice helps to reduce the levels of uric acid in the blood, cherries are very useful against problems associated with high uric acid levels, such as gout.
Cherry juice is also highly recommended for people who suffer from arthritis, because they significantly reduce the pain, again thanks to anthocyanins. The cherries that have the highest content of anthocyanins are tart cherries, but other varietes, like black and sweet cherries, also provide a large dose of antioxidants.
Cherry juice is a great way to boost the immune system and protect the body from seasonal infections, like flu and common cold, and it works even better if combined with apple juice.
This juice is also highly recommended for athletes, because it has the property to reduce or completely prevent the muscle pain and fatigue, as well as the cramps.
Where to Find Tart Cherries
Over 60% of all tart cherries are grown in the Traverse Bay Farms region of Northern Michigan. This farming region is dotted with countless family farms. These farmers work tirelessly to harvest this ruby red superfruit, year after year. Unfortunately, the tart cherry is a very hard to store fruit. This means the fresh fruit is only available for a few short weeks during the summer harvest.
That is why the tart cherry juice, concentrated cherry juice, tart cherry capsules and cherry powder are the best choice for year-round usage. While you can find tart cherry juice on the local grocery store, many of those on the store shelves are mixed with other juices like apple, grape and cranberry. Learn how to buy 100% pure tart cherry juice, made from concentrate, when you are looking to enjoy the natural help benefits of this ruby-red superfruit drink.
Final Thoughts
Drinking cherry juice is a great way to stay healthy without having to worry about the calories, fats and other things that pose a threat to a slim figure. Enjoy a glass of cherry juice or add tart cherry capsules to to your daily exercise and workout routine.
