Tart cherry supplementation and recovery from strenuous exercise: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of tart cherry supplementation on recovery following strenuous exercise. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted using studies investigating tart cherry supplementation on measures of muscle soreness, muscular strength, muscular power, creatine kinase (CK), C reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). A literature search ending in July 2020 was conducted in 3 databases (SPORTDiscus, Web of Science and Pubmed). Data from 14 studies was extracted and pooled for analysis. Tart cherry supplementation had a small beneficial effect in reducing muscle soreness (ES = -0.44, 95% CI [-0.87, -0.02]). A moderate beneficial effect was observed for recovery of muscular strength (ES = -0.78, 95% CI [-1.11, -0.46]). A moderate effect was observed for muscular power (ES = -0.53, 95% CI [-0.77, -0.29]), a further subgroup analysis on this variable indicated a large effect of tart cherry supplementation on recovery of jump height (ES = -0.82, 95% CI [-1.18, -0.45]) and a small significant effect of supplementation on sprint time (ES = -0.32, 95% CI [-0.60, -0.04]). A small effect was observed for both CRP (ES = -0.46, 95% CI [-0.93, -0.00]) and IL-6 (ES = -0.35, 95% CI [-0.68, -0.02]. No significant effects were observed for CK, and TNFα. These results indicate that the consumption of a tart cherry supplement can aid aspects of recovery from strenuous exercise.