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THE EFFECTS OF TART CHERRY JUICE AND WHEY PROTEIN ON EXERCISE INDUCED MUSCLE DAMAGE RECOVERY

Abstract

Hailey E. Jurgens, Sara Higgins, Takudzwa A. Madzima, Svetlana Nepocatych. Elon University, Elon, NC.

BACKGROUND: Nutritional interventions to prevent and reduce the effects of exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), including natural anti-inflammatories have been found to decrease inflammation and aid in the recovery of EIMD. PURPOSE: To examine the effects of tart cherry juice and whey protein on measures of recovery following fatiguing forearm exercises. METHODS: 20 recreationally active women (age: 21±0.3yr; BMI: 23.42±2.79 kg/m 2 ) were randomly assigned to either one of two supplemental protocols (S1: 2x8 oz tart cherry juice + 30 g whey protein (WP)/day or S2: 30 g WP/day) for 3 days. Participants completed 3 sets of seven hand, wrist, and forearm exercises until fatigue with 60 s rest in between. Hand-grip strength, wrist circumference (WC), perceived recovery (PRS), fatigue, and muscle soreness (MS) were measured at pre-, 0, 24, 48, and 72h post-exercise. All measurements and exercise sessions were completed virtually over Zoom after all equipment and supplements were shipped to the participant’s home. ANOVAs were used for analyses. Significance was set at p<0.05. RESULTS: No significant time or supplement effect (p>0.05) or interaction was observed for handgrip strength (p=0.70), fatigue (p=0.55), or WC (p=0.64) between S1 and S2 at pre-, 0, 24, 48 or 72h post-exercise, respectively. However, a significant time and supplement interaction was observed in MS (3.1±3.3, 4.0±2.2, 4.0±3.1, 5.0±3.5, 3.6±3.4, and 1.8±2.2, 5.4±2.4, 5.0±3.4, 4.8±3.4, 3.7±3.4, p=0.006) and PRS (7.5±2.7, 4.7±2.4, 7.0±2.6, 7.2±2.2, 7.4±1.8 and 6.8±2.6, 4.8±2.2, 7.2±2.0, 7.0±2.0, 7.1±1.7, p= 0.02) between S1 and S2 at pre-, 0, 24, 48, or 72h post-exercise, respectively. CONCLUSION: Supplementation of tart cherry juice and WP following fatiguing forearm exercise could be used to reduce the perception of recovery and muscle soreness after exercise. However, the addition of tart cherry juice to WP supplementation did not improve handgrip strength, perception of fatigue, or wrist circumference an indirect indicator of inflammation.

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