Tart Cherry for Muscle Recovery

Research suggests that tart cherry supplementation is one of the better-supported nutritional strategies for post-exercise muscle recovery, with the evidence base including multiple randomized controlled trials, two meta-analyses, and several systematic reviews, most of which point in a favorable direction. Studies indicate that tart cherry supplementation is most consistently associated with reduced perceived muscle soreness and faster recovery of strength and power following intense exercise, with proposed mechanisms involving the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory polyphenols naturally present in the fruit, and at least one trial has provided direct molecular evidence of enhanced antioxidant enzyme activity within muscle tissue itself. However, the evidence is not uniformly positive — a small number of well-controlled trials found no meaningful benefit, and a 2026 narrative review cautioned that effects on objective functional measures like strength and power are inconsistent across studies and heavily dependent on exercise type, population, dosing timing, and duration of supplementation. Reviewers have also noted that most studies involved male athletes or runners, that publication bias may inflate the apparent effect sizes in the literature, and that benefits appear more reliable when supplementation begins several days before a demanding event rather than being initiated acutely afterward.