More than just tasty
Cherry is very popular as an ingredient for its taste. But more and more trials prove the fruit also has health benefits. Studies have shown tart cherries help with muscle recovery and protect against post-exercise muscle strength loss and soreness.
CherryCraft® is a full spectrum extract from European Tart Cherries. Tart Cherry is known to boost antioxidant power and promote healthy inflammatory responses after intensive exercises. For this reason, this ingredient is popular and widely used in products that support sport recovery and performance. Furthermore, there is scientific evidence that it has antioxidative effects and a positive impact on cardiovascular health and sleep.
PROVEN HEALTH BENEFITS OF TART CHERRY
1. Sport Recovery
Tart cherries have been shown in several clinical studies to help in exercise recovery. Consumption of tart cherries can help attenuate muscle soreness, strength decrement during recovery, and markers of muscle catabolism. In 8 out of 9 studies cherry consumption significantly reduced induced muscle pain, soreness and loss of strength in trained athletes.
The observed benefits have been attributed to the presence of highly concentrated phytochemicals like polyphenols and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
2. Sport Performance
Short-term supplementation with tart cherries has been shown to improve markers of muscle function, reduce immune and inflammatory stress, and increase performance in trained individuals. Additionally, it has been shown that trained cyclist can benefit from supplementation with tart cherry by lowering blood pressure and improving aspects of exercise performance, specifically end-sprint performance.
3. Sleep
Tart Cherry supplementation can increase sleep time and sleep efficiency. The available clinical data suggest that consumption of a tart cherry juice provides an increase in exogenous melatonin and that it is beneficial in improving sleep duration and quality. Tart cherry might also be of benefit in managing disturbed sleep.
4. Cardiovascular Health
Inflammation and oxidative stress are important factors in the development of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis. Tart cherry has shown to have anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties. Human clinical trials proved that that consumption of tart cherry can lower the levels of systolic blood pressure and markers for cholesterol in adults and have positive effects on cardiovascular health.
Sport Recovery References
Montmorency tart cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) supplementation accelerates recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage in females. Brown MA, Stevenson EJ, Howatson G. European Journal of Sport Science 2019
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30058460/
The Effects of Montmorency Tart Cherry Concentrate Supplementation on Recovery Following Prolonged, Intermittent Exercise. Bell PG, Stevenson E, Davison GW, Howatson G. Nutrients 2016
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27455316/
Influence of tart cherry juice on indices of recovery following marathon running. Howatson G, McHugh MP, Hill JA, Brouner J, Jewell AP, van Someren KA, Shave RE, Howatson SA. The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports 2010
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883392/
Efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of muscle damage. Connolly DA, McHugh MP, Padilla-Zakour OI, Carlson L, Sayers SP. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2006
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16790484/
Sport Performance Reference
Effects of powdered Montmorency tart cherry supplementation on acute endurance exercise performance in aerobically trained individuals. Levers K, Dalton R, Galvan E, O'Connor A, Goodenough C, Simbo S, Mertens-Talcott SU, Rasmussen C, Greenwood M, Riechman S, Crouse S, Kreider RB. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2016
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-016-0133-z
Sleep References
Pilot Study of the Tart Cherry Juice for the Treatment of Insomnia and Investigation of Mechanisms.
Losso JN, Finley JW, Karki N, Liu AG, Prudente A, Tipton R, Yu Y, Greenway FL. American Journal of Therapeutics 2018
Effect of tart cherry juice (Prunus cerasus) on melatonin levels and enhanced sleep quality. Howatson G, Bell PG, Tallent J, Middleton B, McHugh MP, Ellis J. European Journal of Nutrition 2012
Effects of a tart cherry juice beverage on the sleep of older adults with insomnia: a pilot study. Pigeon WR, Carr M, Gorman C, Perlis ML. Journal of Medicinal Food 2010
Cardiovascular Health References
Impact of tart cherry juice on systolic blood pressure and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Chai SC, Davis K, Wright RS, Kuczmarski MF, Zhang Z. Food and Function 2018
Effects of Montmorency tart cherry (Prunus Cerasus L.) consumption on vascular function in men with early hypertension. Keane KM, George TW, Constantinou CL, Brown MA, Clifford T, Howatson G. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2016.
Montmorency Tart cherries (Prunus cerasus L.) modulate vascular function acutely, in the absence of improvement in cognitive performance. Keane KM, Haskell-Ramsay CF, Veasey RC, Howatson G. British journal of Nutrition 2016
This list of clinical studies makes no claims to completeness.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further studies.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.