The following content originally appeared in Beverage Innovation issue 131, which you can subscribe to here.
Sometimes overlooked when it comes to the beverage sector it is the simple fruits that often have the greatest appeal and occasionally hidden qualities. Claire Phoenix looks at some of the latest clinical studies and new launches in this burgeoning garden of antioxidant riches.
Blackcurrant – a natural, legal performance enhancer?
Sports drinks can do more than provide athletes with rehydration: they can also give them a legal performance edge.
There are a multitude of choices for thirsty male and female athletes, from water to expensive brand names that spend millions on endorsements and promotion at major sporting events. A look at the labels of the big-name drinks will reveal that they can be packed with sugar, rather than health boosting nutrients.
One natural fruit that is often used in drinks and has been popular for generations can provide both amateur and professional athletes with a safe, scientifically proven, legal boost to their performance, as well as basic rehydration.
The common blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) has been made into wine, jam and cordials for a long time, and more recently the fruit of this woody shrub has been appearing in sports drinks. The use of blackcurrant in sports nutrition is more than just marketing, it has a solid basis in published peer-reviewed science.
Papers that have been published in a range of medical journals have shown that athletes can improve their performance, as well as their overall long-term health, by switching to a blackcurrant sports drink.
This year a paper that appeared in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism reported that when cyclists were given 6g per day of blackcurrant powder for seven days before an endurance test, the production of the metabolic waste lactic acid, was reduced by 14 per cent and they had greater strength.
Blackcurrant was found to increase the amount of blood that was pumped by each heartbeat and there was less resistance to peripheral circulation.
Another study published this year in the European Journal of Applied Physiology looked at the effect of blackcurrant on cyclists. It reported that blackcurrant improved peripheral blood flow by expanding blood vessels so that more blood could flow through with less resistance, and with lower blood pressure.
The study also found that blackcurrant increased the ability of the body to burn fat.
Perhaps of most interest to athletes, the study found that the performance of cyclists who consumed blackcurrant improved by 2.4 per cent during a 16.1km time trial.
A third study that was published this year in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, investigated the benefit of blackcurrant consumption by runners.
The authors found that runners who consumed blackcurrant performed better in sprints and were able to cover greater distances during set times. Blackcurrant also appeared to help the body get rid of lactic acid faster.
In 2014 the European Journal of Sport Science published a study that looked at the performance of female runners who had consumed a blackcurrant sports drink. They found that the performance of the runners who consumed blackcurrant improved by 1.9 per cent, on average.
An earlier study, which was published in 2009 by the American Journal of Physiology, reported that blackcurrant consumption reduced the damage caused by oxygen free radicals, metabolic byproducts that are created during exercise.
The anti-oxidant action of blackcurrant was attributed to the pigments, anthocyanins, that give the black fruit its color.
The authors concluded that blackcurrant would also support an athlete’s immune system.
As you can see, there is a significant body of published science which shows that consumption of blackcurrant daily by athletes can improve their performance, reduce their recovery time, help to protect their overall health by reducing the impact of harmful byproducts of metabolism and support their immune systems. So Drink up!
It should however be noted that the blackcurrant extracts that are used in sports beverages can vary greatly in the range of compounds retained from the fresh fruit matrix, and thus vary in their nutritional value and potential range of applications.
The innovative fruit processing company Iprona AG for instance, uses a proprietary membrane ultrafiltration technology to produce a blackcurrant powder that not only concentrates the original fruit compounds, but retains taste and aroma as well.
A powder enriched with this technology offers the whole range of benefits as could be achieved from consuming the fresh fruits. It offers many more applications in sports and nutrition, than would be achieved with powders produced using a chemical solvent extraction.
Formulators of products for healthy nutrition and sports drinks should always go for the membrane enriched blackcurrant powders, according to Iprona.
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