If you exercise regularly, you’ve probably – at some point in your fitness journey – introduced performance-targeted supplements into your routine, including some of the key players like creatine, protein and pre-workout.
In recent years, we’ve also seen more research on potential natural performance boosters, which come in the form of whole foods. There’s been noise around beetroot, tart cherry juice, and now we’re learning more about the naturally performance-enhancing benefits of blackcurrants. In particular, New Zealand blackcurrants – which are grown in rich, fertile soil and higher UV levels to produce more nutrient-dense berries.
Thanks to their antioxidant content, blackcurrants are generally great for our health. Although perhaps overshadowed in the UK by their berry counterparts, like the Great British strawberry, blackcurrants contain four times as much vitamin C as oranges.
Blackcurrants contain anthocyanins – the flavonoid responsible for the berries’ deep purple colour – which can improve blood flow by promoting vasodilation (widening of the blood vessels). Unsurprisingly, increased blood flow supports multiple areas of health. One being erectile dysfunction, most cases of which are caused by insufficient blood flow.
One 2016 study, which tracked more than 25,000 men over 10 years, found that just three or more servings a week of foods, including anthocyanin-rich berries/blackcurrants, were 19% less likely to have erectile dysfunction than men who didn’t consume such foods.
The health benefits of berries are boundless
As well as the myriad health benefits of adding more blackcurrants to your diet, there have also been multiple studies published more recently about the tangible performance benefits of blackcurrants, particularly when consumed in the form of a concentrated extract.
3 Performance Benefits of Blackcurrant Extract1/ Athletic Performance Boost
The benefit of blackcurrants’ rich anthocyanin content may extend to tangible athletic performance improvements, according to the findings of several recent studies. One new study, published in the journal Nutrients, found that New Zealand blackcurrant extract could improve athletic performance by as much as 38%.
Researchers studied the effects of seven-day supplementation of 600mg CurraNZ on 16 recreationally active men. In a double-blind, randomised, cross-over study, all participants had both the blackcurrant extract and the placebo treatment (so they acted as their own controls).
The men participated in multiple treadmill tests following supplementation with the blackcurrant extract and placebo, with researchers evaluating performance improvements based on a ‘smallest worthwhile change’ of 173 meters. In other words, this was the minimum distance considered meaningful following supplementation. They found that with the blackcurrant supplement, runners covered about 8 % more distance on average during intense bursts of treadmill running, with the highest responder improving by 38% in one trial following supplementation.
And for any cyclists out there, more blackcurrant-related good news. In this study, researchers found that after seven days of New Zealand blackcurrant extract supplementation, cyclists improved their 16.1km cycling time trial performance by an average of 2.4%. That’s about 44 seconds. Pretty impressive.
A 2020 review and meta-analyses of 16 studies on blackcurrant supplementation also concluded that blackcurrant has a small but significant effect on sport performance, with no known detrimental side effects.
2/ Recovery Support
Again, we have blackcurrants’ anthocyanin-rich content to thank here. Following intense bouts of exercise, increased inflammation and oxidative stress (when the body struggles to neutralise free radicals with antioxidants) are parts of the body’s natural response, so it makes sense that consuming an antioxidant-rich substance, aka blackcurrant extract, would help combat this.
Indeed, one recent study (a double-blind randomised trial) of 27 men and women found that eight days of New Zealand blackcurrant extract supplementation reduced muscle damage and improved functional recovery following a bout of strenuous isokinetic (where a machine controls the speed of movement) resistance exercise.
Another study found that a one-off dose of New Zealand blackcurrant extract one hour before a 30-minute rowing exercise facilitated recovery from exercise-induced oxidative stress and preserved circulating neutrophil (a type of white blood cell that is the first to respond to infection and inflammation) function.
The researchers later conducted a larger study, in which participants consumed New Zealand blackcurrant extract daily for five weeks prior, and found that it enhanced the exercise recovery effectiveness of the single pre-exercise dose. It also promoted the beneficial and protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory cellular events that facilitate exercise recovery.
3/ Reduced Running-Induced GI Symptoms
While this performance benefit is quite specific, it can still really make a difference, especially when exercising in the heat. Debilitating stitch on a heatwave run? We’ve been there, it’s not pleasant.
Well, a brand-new study suggests that New Zealand blackcurrant extract could help you avoid that. Participants supplemented with blackcurrant extract for seven days before running on a treadmill in hot conditions (34°C and around 40% humidity) for one hour at 65% of their VO2 max. They repeated this with a placebo, acting as their own control.
With the placebo, 11 participants (92%) reported gastrointestinal symptoms (eg, stitches and bloating), but with the blackcurrant extract, this reduced to only four participants (25%). Therefore, based on these findings, blackcurrant extract is potentially quite powerful if you’re going to be doing any heat-stressed exercise, which is useful information in this seemingly never-ending heatwave.
Blackcurrant extract may help prevent stitches and other GI issues while exercising in the heat
The Bottom Line
While there has been a flurry of studies published in recent years, we are still in the ‘more research is needed to solidify results’ stage. Many of the studies are relatively small, and findings have not always been consistent across individuals. Essentially, we need more studies that account for larger and more diverse populations and further investigate the specifics of dosage and periods of supplementation.
That said, however, there have been some really promising results of blackcurrant extract supplementation, which make logical sense when you consider the fruit’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Every person is different, and it’s always worth checking in with a professional before you try something new, but for now, we’re getting excited about blackcurrants – and maybe you should too.
Ribena, anyone?
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Hannah Bradfield is a Senior Nutrition Writer across Women’s Health UK and Men’s Health UK. An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Hannah graduated from Loughborough University with a BA in English and Sport Science and an MA in Media and Cultural Analysis.
She has been covering sports, health and fitness for the last five years and has created content for outlets including BBC Sport, BBC Sounds, Runner’s World and Stylist. She especially enjoys interviewing those working within the community to improve access to sport, exercise and wellness. Hannah is a 2024 John Schofield Trust Fellow and was also named a 2022 Rising Star in Journalism by The Printing Charity.
A keen runner, Hannah was firmly a sprinter growing up (also dabbling in long jump) but has since transitioned to longer-distance running. While 10K is her favoured race distance, she loves running or volunteering at parkrun every Saturday, followed, of course, by pastries. She’s always looking for fun new runs and races to do and brunch spots to try.