The first is that drinking cherry juice after exercise can reduce muscle pain. The second is that cherry juice also reduces the amount of muscle strength often lost after strenuous exercise. It should be noted that this small study was paid for by Cherrypharm Inc. of West Hartford, CT, which manufactures a nutritional supplement juice whose main content is cherries. The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Vermont in Burlington, who studied 14 volunteers who exercised for a period of seven days. Participants drank either a cherry/apple juice combination drink or a drink with no cherry juice for three days before they exercised, and for another four days after they exercised. The exercises were arm flexing, and both the drinks and the arms were alternated. Arm muscles were flexed and tensed 20 times in only one arm. After two weeks, the process was repeated, with participants who previously drank cherry juice—which contained the juice from about 50-60 cherries—switching to the other drink mixture and vice-versa. The arm muscle exercise was also switched. Based on interviews with the participants, researchers found that those who drank the other juice mixture experienced a 22% loss in muscle strength, while those who drank the cherry juice mixture only lost 4% of their muscle strength. Their reported muscle pain rating was also much lower, at 2.4% compared to 3.2% for those who drank the other juice. After 96 hours, the cherry-juice drinkers even gained some muscle strength. Results of the study were published in the June 21, 2006 online edition of the British Journal of Sports Medicine. More from Prevention: 3 Unique Ways To Ease Aching Muscles
