Cherry Juice May Cut Muscle Pain

[Astronuc]

Students Who Drank the Juice Showed Less Pain and Loss of Strength After Exercise

By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical News

June 20, 2006 -- Drinking cherry juice before and after exercise may lessen workout-related muscle pain and damage.

That's the bottom line from a study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Researchers included Declan Connolly, PhD, of the University of Vermont's Human Performance Laboratory.

The study looked at 14 male college students who were given one of two drinks over a period of several days: tart cherry juice mixed with apple juice, or a cherry-flavored soft drink lacking cherry juice (placebo). Researchers compared their scores on various tests, including muscle strength and muscle pain.

Well chocolate, or rather certain ingredients in chocolate, is supposed to help one's muscles to recover from exercise, particuarly from weight-training and muscle straining. Hmmm, it would seem MacRobertson's Cherry Ripes should do that too! :tongue2: :tongue:

I bet the price of cherries will go up now. :yuck:

Now I have an excuse to plant cherry trees.

 

[hypatia]

14 seems like a very small group to test. But sense I love cherry's I'd give it 2 thumbs up!

 

[Astronuc]

It can't hurt. :rofl:

I try to drink cranberry juice periodically, but I need to do it more often. I once had bladder infection and drinking cranberry juice kept it in check until I could see a doctor. I managed to hit a temp of 105°F and was delirious (not to mention sweating profusely) - pretty amazing hallucinations (vivid but wild dreams) - in fact, the only time I have ever hallucinated. :tongue:

The cranberry juice saved me from kidney damage.

 

[Moonbear]

Interesting. Unfortunately, we don't have a subscription to the journal that was published in, so I can't read the article for myself. I was wondering if the placebo was calorically matched with the juice mixture. I'm guessing that's why the cherry juice was mixed with apple juice, so that they could make the placebo matched in calories with just more apple juice plus the cherry flavoring, but I'd like to confirm that. Or...wouldn't it be funny to find out instead that artificial cherry flavoring is bad for your muscles? Never dismiss the alternative hypothesis too quickly.

 

[Astronuc]

Why not just eat fresh cherries in heavy cream :tongue2: :tongue2: or with vanilla ice cream. :tongue2:

What is the deal with making juice out of everything anyway?

 

[Moonbear]

Why not just eat fresh cherries in heavy cream :tongue2: :tongue2: or with vanilla ice cream. :tongue2:

What is the deal with making juice out of everything anyway?

Cherries are very good soaked in vodka too, and then used as a topping for ice cream.

 

[Evo]

Isn't the recent juice fad bad? You remove all the healthy pulp and fiber from the fruits and vegetables. Eating the real thing is MUCH healthier than drinking the juice. Oh, but then all these companies that make millions of dollars off of juicers would go out of business.

 

[Cyrus]

I like cherries.

I like watermelon.

At school, we have watermelon ice cream. It is frozen watermelon on a stick. You have to spit the seeds out as you eat it. Watermelon juice is good.

 

[Astronuc]

Isn't the recent juice fad bad? You remove all the healthy pulp and fiber from the fruits and vegetables. Eating the real thing is MUCH healthier than drinking the juice. Oh, but then all these companies that make millions of dollars off of juicers would go out of business.

Yeah. Drinking just the juice is stupid. Believing that juice by itself is better is just . . . .

 

[Cyrus]

http://www.killsometime.com/Pictures/images/Watermelon-Art.jpg

Now that's a watermelon.

 

[Moonbear]

http://www.killsometime.com/Pictures/images/Watermelon-Art.jpg

Now that's a watermelon.

Wow, that's gorgeous! I'll bet it was still left at the end of the picnic though. Every time I've made a dish that was "pretty," it would be left untouched because people wouldn't want to ruin it to take a serving. I made gingerbread houses one year and only one friend was brave enough to finally smash it all at once so the kids would stop thinking it was a decoration and start eating it.

The juice was made with about 50 cherries according to the article. If you ate that many whole cherries, well, you'd never make it to the workout because you'd spend the whole day in the bathroom. :rofl: I don't know if you need to consume that high of a dose of whatever is in cherry juice to have the beneficial effect for exercise. I agree, I'd rather eat the whole fruit than get just the sugar in the juice. I really don't like all those juice blends...apple kiwi strawberry grape, or orange cranberry passion fruit, or whatever other odd combinations they just toss together. Just eat a fruit salad! They're still mostly sugar in those juices.

 

[Cyrus]

The juice was made with about 50 cherries according to the article. If you ate that many whole cherries, well, you'd never make it to the workout because you'd spend the whole day in the bathroom.

Hmmmm. I know that I can eat a bag full of cherries. That should amount to about 30-40 of them. I like cherries.

Oh yea, I do have a 6 pack of Sam Adam cherry wheat Beer. Just what the doctor ordered. :rofl:

 

[Moonbear]

Oh yea, I do have a 6 pack of Sam Adam cherry wheat Beer. Just what the doctor ordered. :rofl:

I brought that to a bbq and was told it's a "girly beer." :rofl: (I told them fine, more for me.) Sounds like a good way to me to get your daily cherry dose.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

My usual post workout meal is two chicken breasts, one banana, a serving of rasberries and a glass of milk.

 

[Astronuc]

Right after a workout, I don't feel like eating, but I'll drink about 24 oz of Gatorade or a milk shake with Myoplex and few scoops of ice cream. If I had a Jamba Juice nearby, I'd go and get a smoothie. Sometimes, I'll just eat of couple of oranges.

We tend to eat a lot of chicken, some pork and fish, and mostly vegetables, and fresh fruit, and whole grain breads.

 

[radou]

My usual post workout meal is two chicken breasts, one banana, a serving of rasberries and a glass of milk.

Same here, only chicken is replaced with tuna.

 

[EnumaElish]

I don't eat or drink (or drink too much) before a workout. Does anyone? I am talking about short (< 1 hour) workouts, not a day-long activity.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I don't eat or drink (or drink too much) before a workout. Does anyone? I am talking about short (< 1 hour) workouts, not a day-long activity.

When I say post workout, it's usually 45min after actual workout. I'm in the process of bulking so I need to eat after a workout or I'll lose weight :)

 

[Astronuc]

When I say post workout, it's usually 45min after actual workout. I'm in the process of bulking so I need to eat after a workout or I'll lose weight :)

Bulking up? So one is gaining or at least maintaining mass?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Bulking up? So one is gaining or at least maintaining mass?

Bulking is the nondescriminative gain of weight with lifting. Not worrying about fat until I hit a desired weight and then you cut/chisel. Which is burning the fat by diet and cardio to get chisel definition. So I want to throw all food in my mouth all the time.

 

[rewebster]

I used to take an aspirin and some salt after workouts

 

[Astronuc]

When I was weight-lifting and doing iron work, I had a different approach than bulking up. I ate normal meals - breakfast, lunch and dinner, and interim snacks.

I supplemented my food intake with a combination of high protein power (e.g. Myoplex), baby formula (e.g. Similac), ice cream and whole milk. One shake ~24 oz in the morning and one in the evening.

My maximum weight was about 185-190 lbs, so I was never big, but I could do military press with reps at 240 lbs (with a max of about 270-280 lbs), and one arm military press with 120-140 lbs. With 240 lbs, I used to toss it overhead as high as I could then catch it.

I was never interested in being large, but instead I had high strength to mass ratio.

I wasn't much bigger than I am now. One of my wife's complaints when we were dating was that I was too hard (everywhere) - kind of like the soccer player Evo dated. It is quite natural for an athlete to be 'hard' - because lean muscle fiber is dense and relative hard compared to fat and soft tissue.

 

[whitay]

Yeah being in germany I have put on weight not a lot about 4kgs. But I am in the process of working it off. Now that if you want ot lose weight you shouldn't eat directly after running, I have done so today. But I don't necessaryly get muscle cramps. Then again I don't exactly work out.

 

[JasonRox]

Don't we release cortisol after a workout? I'm pretty certain we do. In that case, you should always eat something high in anti-oxydants after a workout, like blueberries or even cherries.

My post-workout meal is simple. Just like eat fruits pretty much and eat my next meal because I'll workout before a meal to begin with.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Tart black cherry juice is sometimes suggested patients with gout. Unfortunately, there is a lot of internet hype on the subject. I have never seen anything other than almost anecdotal patient obervations on it's effectiveness - in a very few REALLY old medline citations anyway.

What makes me wonder is what the motivation was to use cherry juice in the first place - in the original study. In other words, how'd they create a hypothesis like that to start with? hmm.

 

[turbo]

Tart black cherry juice is sometimes suggested patients with gout. Unfortunately, there is a lot of internet hype on the subject. I have never seen anything other than almost anecdotal patient obervations on it's effectiveness - in a very few REALLY old medline citations anyway.

What makes me wonder is what the motivation was to use cherry juice in the first place - in the original study. In other words, how'd they create a hypothesis like that to start with? hmm.

My father has gout, and he buys Knudson's black cherry juice concentrate by the case (cheaper that way) and mixes up a glass full to have with breakfast every morning. He hasn't had to take gout medication for about a year now.

 

[RetardedBastard]

After my weight lifting workout I drink one serving of whey protein with some dextrose mixed in plain ol water. After my cardio workout, I drink gatorade. I eat lots of grilled chicken breast and tuna with my meals, along with complex carbs. Works well for me.

 

[JasonRox]

After my weight lifting workout I drink one serving of whey protein with some dextrose mixed in plain ol water. After my cardio workout, I drink gatorade. I eat lots of grilled chicken breast and tuna with my meals, along with complex carbs. Works well for me.

No fruits after a workout?

I found I have more energy after I stopped consuming artificial sugars, like Gatorade and Dextrose.

After about a month, it has a huge noticeable effect on how much energy I have. Things like sugar and caffeine consumes a lot of energy and not actually reward you with any although it feels like it is.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Dextrose elevates blood glucose which may make you feel better for a short time. Excess glucose is converted either to glycogen (if you're "short" on it) or into fat.

So, I suppose very small amount of dextrose would be okay. Large amounts doubtlessly are not a constructive choice and it is possible to end up with blood glucose levels lower than where you started.

 

[RetardedBastard]

No fruits after a workout?

I found I have more energy after I stopped consuming artificial sugars, like Gatorade and Dextrose.

After about a month, it has a huge noticeable effect on how much energy I have. Things like sugar and caffeine consumes a lot of energy and not actually reward you with any although it feels like it is.

I havn't done the fruit-after-a-workout diet, but I'm going to try it this week and measure any changes. I find that my lifts are better when I have been taking dextrose than when I've not been taking it. I personally don't really care if I have much energy after a weight-lifting work out or not... as long as my lifts continute to progress week after week, I'll be satisfied. As for the Gatorade after doing cardio, it keeps me going for the next half hour until I make a solid meal. I find Gatorade helps me in that time period more so than anything else I've tried, including dextrose w/ water, protein shake, milk, or fruit juices. Will try substitute fruit when I resume my cardio sessions (I'm concentrating on my squats currently, and don't want to give myself any excuse like sore legs for not getting good squats).

 

[Wild Angel]

My after exercise work out munch consists of yoghurt or fruits of the season especially cherries in Summer.