Supporting a uK SucceSS Story: The impacT of - Research Councils ...

Health and Wellbeing:
Performance
It might sound a little far fetched, but
researchers at the University of Northumbria,
in partnership with a PhD student at St Mary’s
University College, have found that cherries
can help improve the performance of marathon
runners. The researchers asked 20 marathon
runners to drink either a cherry blend juice or a
placebo drink twice a day for five days before
taking part in the London Marathon and for two
days afterwards. The findings indicated that
the group who drank the cherry juice recovered
their strength more rapidly than the other group
over the 48-hour period following the marathon.
The researchers concluded that cherry juice
appears to aid recovery following strenuous
exercise by increasing total antioxidative
capacity, reducing inflammation and oxidative
stress and therefore helping the body recover
muscle function.
Another researcher from Sheffield Hallam
University has found that caffeine combined
with carbohydrate could be used to help
athletes perform better on the field. Mayur
Ranchordas, a senior lecturer and performance
nutritionist conducted studies on footballers
using caffeine and carbohydrates combined in
a drink. Along with improvements in endurance
caused by ingesting carbohydrate, the athletes’
skill level improved after taking caffeine and
carbohydrate together. He said: “There is already
plenty of research that shows that caffeine and
carbohydrate improve endurance, but this study
shows that there is also a positive effect on skill
and performance. We found that the combination
of carbohydrate and caffeine allowed players
to sustain higher work intensity for the sprints,
as well as improving shooting accuracy and
dribbling during simulated soccer activity. These
findings suggest that, for athletes competing
in team sports where endurance and skill are
important factors, ingesting a carbohydrate and
caffeine drink, as opposed to just a carbohydrate
drink, may significantly enhance performance.”
New research that took place at the University of
Central Lancashire looked at the use of calcium
supplements by elite athletes and whether this
has an impact on performance. Calcium is the
most abundant mineral in the human body and
is needed for healthy bones and also some
critical biological functions including nerve
impulses, muscle contraction, cell adhesiveness,
mitosis, and blood clotting. Although still in
its early stages, this research has found that
calcium can have an effect on metabolism,
fatigue and vascular tone and therefore increase
the efficiency of an athlete’s body. The use of
calcium as a performance enhancing supplement
still requires more research, but early findings
indicate that it can play a role in performance
enhancement for endurance events.
Training techniques
Most people know, whether they are elite athletes or not, that it is important to
warm up properly before exercising or taking part in sport to help prevent muscle
cramps or other injuries. A group of researchers from Aberystwyth University,
the University of Brighton and the University of Exeter have been looking at new
ways of warming up that can actually help improve an athlete’s performance. The
team have studied warm up techniques that involve doing high-intensity exercise,
known as “priming”, before the main exercise session or race. Priming increases
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SECTION two : Health and Wellbeing