Players Should Drink More Cherry Juice

Forget the expensive bottles of isotonic drink. World Cup soccer players seeking to ease aching muscles after a match would probably do better to guzzle fresh cherry juice instead, according to a study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers in the United States asked volunteers to drink either juice made from a tart, fresh cherry juice mixed with commercial apple juice, or a look-alike mixture that contained no cherry juice. The 14 guinea pigs drank the stuff for three days before undergoing a bout of exercise in which arm muscles were flexed 40 times on a weight-lifting machine, and drank it for four days afterward. The process was repeated two weeks later. Those who had taken the dummy mixture took the cherry juice instead and vice versa. The other arm was also used.

Muscle tenderness, motion and strength were assessed on each of the days before and after exercise, using standard test equipment. The volunteers also rated their own muscle soreness on a scale of 1 to 10. Those who had been drinking the dummy mixture saw their muscle strength plunge by 22 percent after the exercise. But the loss was only four percentage points among those who had been drinking cherry juice. And among the cherry drinkers, muscle strength even improved slightly 96 hours after the exercise.

The finding supports previous research which shows that tart cherries are stuffed with natural anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants, which prevent cell damage.