The consumption of Blueberries, before, during, and after physical training has been found to improve the rate of recovery of muscle performance.
Research conducted by Massey School of Sport and Exercise head Associate Professor Steve Stannard, University colleagues and the New Zealand Institute for Plant & Food Research has been published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. The research investigated the impacts of blueberries on the recovery of muscles while under intense physical training. Blueberries were shown to improve the rate of muscle recovery during the first 36 hours. This has the potential to enable an increase in training which may lead to an ultimate improvement in performance potential.
This research was based on the consumption of blueberry based smoothies. It is great to see research carried out on a whole food that is readily available, rather than an extract of a food that requires the product to be processed before we can experience the benefits.