Tart Cherry Juice Benefits for Athletes: What You Should Know

Time and time again, we hear touted benefits of magical elixirs that report significant sports performance gains. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to know if there is any truth behind these claims. Furthermore, some of these magical elixirs have the potential to do more harm to your body than good. Let’s take the research grunt work off of your hands and keep you up-to-date on this (slightly) magical beverage. Bottoms up as we review tart cherry juice benefits for athletes.

Understanding Tart Cherry Juice

Cool, crisp, and super refreshing, at least in my opinion. Many of my athletes love it as well! Tart cherry juice is a tangy beverage that you may want to consider adding to your daily routine. That’s right, move over morning coffee– hello tart cherry juice (well, maybe we do not need to go that far)! 

Tart cherry juice is typically extracted from Montmorency cherries, which are also known as sour cherries. Tart cherries are an extremely rich source of antioxidants and offer health-supporting qualities. Research shows that tart cherry juice offers a wide variety of health benefits including reduced inflammation, improved sleep patterns, improved recovery post-exercise, and immune-boosting properties.  

An 8oz serving (240mL) of tart cherry juice contains approximately 150 calories, 35g of carbs, 1g of protein, and 1.5g fat. Though tart cherry juice in the concentrated form is lower in calories at 40 calories and 10g of carbs per 1oz (30mL) serving. Tart cherry juice and concentrate boast important nutrients for endurance athletes including copper, potassium, manganese, magnesium, iron, and zinc.

Tart Cherry Juice for Enhancing Athletic Performance

As an endurance athlete, hard training sessions and races push the envelope on your body’s capabilities. The increased demands of training and racing result in physiological processes including:

• Central nervous fatigue and high levels of oxidative stress
• Inflammation and subsequent fluid retention which may result in weight gain
• Depleted glycogen, though certainly to a lesser extent if you have properly carbohydrate-loaded and fueled during the workout or race itself
• Elevated core temperature
• Elevated heart rate due to increased cortisol and norepinephrine
• Electrolyte disturbances
• Sleep disturbances

These physiological processes can be even more affected by harsher weather conditions and environmental factors such as altitude. It is important to make sure that post-workout and post-race recovery strategies are an integral part of your nutrition plan. Optimizing adequate protein, carbohydrate, fluid, and also electrolyte intake post-workout or race is imperative for refueling. Though be sure to visit our recovery blog for more nutrition and lifestyle-based strategies!

Tart cherry juice can also be an effective tool for speeding up the recovery process as tart cherry juice has been well-researched in optimizing post-workout recovery. Research shows that 8-12 oz of tart cherry juice (1 fluid oz if in the concentrated form) twice per day can reduce blood markers of inflammation and oxidative stress after strenuous exercise. 

Other Tart Cherry Juice Benefits for Athletes

Fortunately, there are countless tart cherry juice benefits for athletes. Tart cherry juice has been extensively researched for its vast health-promoting benefits including:

• Anti-inflammatory. Tart cherry juice contains anthocyanins, which are anti-inflammatory compounds that may help to combat some chronic diseases. Inflammation-related joint issues are common in endurance athletes, particularly runners. The anti-inflammatory benefits of tart cherry juice provide relief for people with arthritis and can help reduce pain and stiffness. 
• Supports sleep and rest. This one can be challenging for many of the athletes that I work with, especially those that find it hard to wind down after a busy day. Tart cherries naturally contain melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and is often used as a supplement to treat insomnia. Older research shows that supplementing with tart cherry juice increases levels of melatonin and helps improve sleep duration. 
• Immune-boosting. Hard bouts of training and racing are common to suppress your immune system and predispose you to unwanted illnesses. Tart cherry juice can reduce the incidence of upper respiratory symptoms and keep you healthy and training hard. 

Knowing Which Tart Cherry Juice to Choose

As with any food or beverage, there is no one secret to success versus a wide variety of tools to make you a better, more recovered athlete. Though regularly including tart cherry juice can offer many benefits for athletes! Certainly, you can reap the benefits of consuming fresh Montmorency cherries in your diet as well but you would have to consume around 100 cherries to equal tart cherry juice in the concentrated form. For most athletes, this volume is absolutely unrealistic, likely to cause stomach issues, not to mention extremely expensive! 

Typically tart cherry juice can be purchased in juice or concentrate form at local grocery stores. Tart cherry juice is also available on various online purchasing platforms. There is little to no nutritional difference or taste between the juice and concentrate forms. If you mix the cherry concentrate with water in the recommended amount, then you have tart cherry juice. However tart cherry juice can also be consumed straight up (typically a 1 fluid oz serving size). Bottoms up! Fortunately, both the tart juice and concentrate forms offer benefits for endurance athletes.

Consider opting for pure tart cherry juice or concentrate that contains no added sugars, sweeteners, additives, or dyes. Some of these unnecessary ingredients can detract from the health-promoting properties of regularly consuming tart cherry juice. Furthermore, added sweeteners or fibers may lead to unwanted gastrointestinal issues which is the last thing you want when you are getting race ready. 

Tart cherry can also be consumed in pill and powder form. It is important to note that many of these products are not third-party tested and also the dosage in these has not been well-researched. As with any nutrition supplement, be sure to speak with your medical care provider prior to starting.

Tart Cherry Juice vs Sports Drinks for Athletes

While tart cherry juice can be used in your daily nutrition regimen and also post-workout recovery nutrition plan, it is not the equivalent of high-electrolyte sports drinks. Tart cherry juice is naturally quite low in sodium and also lower in potassium than most sports drink beverages. Therefore tart cherry juice can be used in conjunction with a sports drink or with electrolyte-rich food sources, but it should not be used as a substitute. 

Incorporating Tart Cherry Juice Into Your Routine

So glad you asked for ways to incorporate tart cherry juice into your daily routine. Because fortunately the options with tart cherry juice are endless. A few fun and tasty strategies for incorporating tart cherry juice into your routine regularly:

• 1 fluid oz shot straight up. Easy, quick, and crisp!
• Drink an 8-12oz serving (or two) if you are carb-loading for an upcoming race
• Add into your favorite high-protein breakfast or post-workout smoothie.  (I love Thorne’s whey protein isolate powder and this link will get you 15% off)
• Mix with bubbly water and a squeeze of lime juice for a refreshing summer mocktail
• Blend with frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, and electrolyte powder of choice and enjoy as a tasty dessert sorbet
• Prepare your own fabulous homemade sports drink to use during your upcoming workout

Note that research has not agreed upon a recommended dosage amount for tart cherry juice consumption. As a sports dietitian that promotes a flexible nutrition pattern, it is important to figure out what you tolerate and what works best for you. My team and I can help with that!

Precautions

Side effects of consuming tart cherry juice are quite rare. Though it is important to note that tart cherry juice may interact with some medications. As always, be sure to speak with your medical care provider prior to starting any new supplement routine to ensure that it is safe.

Optimizing Your Needs

Each athlete has very unique nutrition needs and it is important that you feel just as confident in your nutrition and recovery plan as you do with your racing plan. Consider working with a sports dietitian so that you can fine-tune your daily nutrition. In the meanwhile, be sure to level up your performance and let us know your favorite way to enjoy tart cherry juice!