A recently-published study by researchers from Concordia University in Montreal suggests that cranberries can provide a significant boost in performance for athletes.
The discovery came about by accident. Francis Parenteau, a PhD candidate in health and exercise science at the school, and lead author, initially wanted to examine the effects of cranberries on the cardiovascular function of mice.
“We actually saw that it didn’t really have any effects to prevent cardiovascular diseases per se, but it did have some effects on functional capacity,” he tells Global News. “It improved running performance by 30 percent in mice as well as strength by about 20 or 25 percent.”
Andreas Bergdahl, Parenteau’s thesis supervisor, explains the fruit is full of antioxidants.
“In fact, of all the fruits and vegetables that are consumed in the North American diet,” he notes. “Cranberries have the highest concentration of these polyphenols.”
With the results, they decided to conduct human trials. They gave competitive endurance runners from Concordia, McGill and a few Montreal running clubs a high dosage of the cranberry supplement a few hours before their run. The dosage was based on body weight.
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Bergdahl says when they found no difference in performance they gave the athletes the supplements again, but this time, “We told them to take it daily for 28 days.”
What they found confirmed Parenteau’s findings.
“Actually it improved their running time by about 1.5 per cent, which is quite significant, especially in high-level runners,” the PhD candidate points out.
He says strength and recovery time also improved, the athletes experienced less muscle pains and, according to Bergdal, the runners even reported feeling more energized while taking the supplement.
Kevin Harmidy, who studied cranberries as part of his masters thesis at McGill University years ago, says he isn’t at all surprised by the findings.
“A lot of these fast nutrition these days, a lot of these protein shakes, a lot of these pre-workout mixes — those things can provide benefits,” he admits. “But I think at the end of the day, whole foods, raw cranberries, cranberry extracts, eating solids and leafy greens, I think those are going to provide greater benefits.”
Bergdahl believes the findings will have applications beyond high-endurance sports like running.
“It could translate into a lot of different populations also, including diseases, special populations, maybe even older adults,” he observes.
Parenteau and Bergdahl plan to continue their work, but for Harmidy, the main takeaway is to eat your fruits and vegetables.
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