New Zealand Blackcurrants and Athletic Performance: The Big Picture

New Zealand Blackcurrants have got a real buzz right now. They've moved from every Grandmother's favourite preserve to a bonafide superfood.

This is in part due to more blackcurrant formats being available than ever before. However, in our opinion, it has more to do with the ever-increasing body of scientific research on these purple gems. Ārepa actually just published its own clinical trial in the journal Antioxidants.

Recently, a meta-analysis was been published seeking to consolidate the varying findings. This cross-examination looked at the increasing body of literature concerning the effects of NZ Blackcurrants on athletic performance. Unsurprisingly, the team behind the analysis featured a couple of names familiar to anyone keeping up to date with the latest happenings in the Blackcurrant world, those being Andrea Braakhuis and Roger Hurst. 

The work itself examined 16 studies and recognised 9 of them as eligible for 'systemic review and meta-analysis'. The accumulative result is summarised as

There was an improvement in sport performance when supplementing with blackcurrant...  the effective dose appears to be between 105 and 210 mg of total blackcurrant anthocyanins, prior to exercise... Blackcurrant has a small, but significant, effect on sports performance, with no known detrimental side effects.

Without some kind of work which takes into account the totality of research, any study is far less relevant. Essentially, what makes science useful for a wider audience is the comparison of all results, be they positive or negative.