Antioxidants: the trick to dealing with DOMS

Antioxidants: The Trick to dealing with DOMS
by lauren williams

It is no secret that exercise is great for your health and wellbeing, but sometimes the aftereffects can really turn people off from making it a routine. What if I told you that there are ways you can help reduce soreness and fatigue from exercise?

Why do i get sore after a workout?

After exercise, your body has a long list of things to do in order to recover. This is because:

• Exercise can create free radicals, which are unstable molecules in your body that can cause a pretty good amount of damage
• This can create oxidative stress, when free radicals and antioxidants are not balanced in your body

So overall, oxidative stress, inflammation, and muscle damage are all things your body uses to recover, and these are the elements you feel after you exercise! All of these factors contribute to delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which is extreme soreness occurring days after your workout.
 
Although this happens to the best of us, studies have shown that this is actually a good thing. While your body is going through these stresses, your antioxidant defenses are given a boost, which brings antioxidants to life. So even if your workout is really intense and muscle damage occurs, your antioxidant defenses are revved up and better prepared for the next session (Mastaloudis, 2004). Although this is beneficial, recovery through eating properly is vital to ensure a speedy recovery. Lucky, antioxidants can donate electrons which can make free radicals stable again, and stop damage in its tracks!

What is Doms?

That burning sensation you get when you are working really hard during a workout, this is related to a buildup of lactic acid. Lactic acid is what your body creates when your body is tired. This is DIFFERENT than delayed onset muscle soreness (or DOMS), which is a whole different level of soreness.
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Oxidative stress from moderate exercise is short lived because your body is always on top of handling the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory operations. But strenuous exercise (like marathon running) can cause muscle damage from an overload of too much stress and inflammation (Hurst, 2013, pgs. 323-328). This happens days following extreme physical activity, about 24-72 hours after. Experiencing this extreme soreness makes it a struggle to even walk because of how stiff your body becomes! It is believed to be from inflammation caused by muscle damage (Howatson, 2009). Small tears in your muscle can really hurt, but luckily there is something simple that can help with this intense soreness!

How do i prevent doms with food?

If you want to prevent DOMS, the key is to look to functional foods! Functional foods are believed to have disease preventing or health boosting properties. 
 
There is a variety of fruits and vegetables that have amazing antioxidant properties that enable your body to hunt down those free radicals and prevent damage. Studies are still being done, but it is likely that antioxidants can be super helpful in high stress situations, like exercise. 

Here are some foods and spices that have been proven to speed recovery!
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​Cherries

• Cherries can reduce a protein in your blood that means inflammation called “C-reactive protein.” 
• They can also lower muscle damage from inflammation because they stop the activity of an enzyme that encourages free radicals during exercise!
• In a study with marathon runners, cherries were tested for muscle damage and found that those who drank cherry juice recovered way faster than those who did not. Inflammation was also reduced (Howatson, 2009).​

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​Berries

• While citrus has been shown to help with lactic acid build up, berries should be your new go-to when you know you really pushed yourself with your workout. This is because they are the ones that deal with inflammation.
  
• Specifically, blueberries and pomegranates have been shown to have promising results! (Sousa, 2014). 

​Curcumin

• Curcumin is a component of turmeric. It has been shown to decrease muscle damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation (Hurst, 2013, pgs. 323-328).

• It has also been shown to cut down the pain from DOMS, and there has even been evidence it can even improve muscle performance! This is thought to be done through its anti-inflammatory effects (Nicol, 2015).​​

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Click here for a  "golden Milk" recipe!

​In conclusion....

The reason why whole foods and natural spices are being encouraged are because unnatural supplements in studies have shown to NOT be as effective. This is believed to be because a lot of supplements exceed the body’s requirements and may actually have a negative effect on the health benefits of exercise (Hurst, 2013).
 
Although this is a relatively new topic in the research world, there is still evidence showing the positive qualities of antioxidants. There are still more studies that are in progress that will give us more insight and evidence in the future (Panza, 2015).
 
So the take away: after working your butt off at the gym, eat some antioxidant rich foods and spices to encourage your bodies recovery! Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is no joke, but luckily there are some pretty amazing foods and spices out there that have your back!





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References:

Howatson, G., McHugh, M.P., Hill, J.A, Brouner, J., Jewell, A.P., Van Somerern, K.A., Shave, R.E., Howatson, S.A. (2009). Influence of tart cherry juice indices of recovery following marathon running. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science and Sports, 20(6), 843-852. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0838.2009.01005.x
 
Hurst, R.D., Hurst, S.M. (2013). Fruits and vegetables as functional foods for exercise and inflammation. eBook Central, 319-336. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-397156-2.00022-3 
 
Mastaloudis, A., Tu, T., O’Donnell, R., Frei, B., Dashwood, H.R., Traber, G.M. (2004). Endurance exercise results in DNA damage as detected by the comet assay. Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 36(8), 966-975.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2004.01.012
 
 
Nicol, L., Rowlands, D., Fazakerly, R., Kellett, J. (2015). Curcumin supplementation likely attenuates delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). European Journal of Applied Physiology, 115(5), 1269-1222. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-015-3152-6
 
 
Panza, V., Diefenthaeler, F. Silva, E.L. (2015). Benefits of dietary phytochemical supplementation on eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage: is including antioxidants enough? Science Direct, 31(9), 1072-1082. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2015.02.014
 
 
Sousa, M., Vítor, H., Soares J. (2014) Dietary strategies to recover from exercise-induced muscle damage, International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition,65 (2), 151-163, DOI: 10.3109/09637486.2013.849662