By FTP Endurance Fuel.
If you spend enough time around endurance athletes, you'll eventually hear someone swear by tart cherry. It usually comes up after a hard block of training, or in the days before a big race, and it's almost always mentioned in the same breath as recovery. What most people don't realise is that the active ingredient doing the heavy lifting isn't the cherry itself but a group of deep-red plant pigments called anthocyanins. Understanding the role of anthocyanins in sport is the difference between throwing money at a trendy supplement and actually using it in a way that supports your training.
I've spent years fuelling long rides and back-to-back running weeks, and I've become increasingly sceptical of recovery products that promise the earth. Tart cherry is one of the few that has genuinely earned its place in the peer-reviewed literature. This isn't about miracle cures. It's about a measurable, repeatable effect on muscle soreness, inflammation and even sleep, all of which matter when you're trying to string together consistent training.
Quick answer: anthocyanins are the deep-red flavonoid pigments in fruits like Montmorency tart cherries, and research links them to reduced muscle soreness, lower oxidative stress and better sleep in athletes. Use them strategically: load for four to five days before a big event, continue through it, and keep going for two to three days afterwards.
What are anthocyanins and where do they come from?
Anthocyanins are a subclass of flavonoids, the pigments responsible for the red, purple and blue colours you see in fruits like tart cherries, blackcurrants, blueberries and elderberries. They're not unique to cherries, but Montmorency tart cherries happen to be an exceptionally rich source, containing roughly 40–50mg of anthocyanins per 100g of fruit.
Biologically, these compounds are the plant's own defence system, protecting the fruit from ultraviolet damage and oxidative stress. When you consume them, they act as antioxidants, mopping up the free radicals your body produces during hard exercise, and they also modulate the inflammatory response rather than blunting it entirely. That distinction matters, and I'll come back to it.
The science: why anthocyanins in sport actually work
A long, hard session causes microscopic damage to muscle fibres. Your body responds with an inflammatory cascade and a spike in oxidative stress, a build-up of reactive oxygen species that outpaces your natural antioxidant defences. This is a normal part of adaptation, but in excess it prolongs soreness and delays your return to full performance.
Multiple studies have shown that supplementing with tart cherry around exercise reduces markers of muscle damage such as creatine kinase, lowers inflammatory markers like interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, and preserves muscle strength in the days after a hard effort. In one well-cited marathon study (opens in a new tab), runners who drank tart cherry juice for five days before and two days after the race recovered their strength significantly faster and showed lower inflammation than those given a placebo. Cyclists have shown similar results, with reduced oxidative stress and better power output during repeated hard days.
The key points worth remembering are:
- Reduced soreness: anthocyanins help lower the delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) that peaks 24–48 hours after a hard session.
- Faster strength recovery: muscle force tends to return more quickly, which matters if you're training or racing again soon.
- Lower oxidative stress: the antioxidant load takes pressure off your body's own defences during high-volume periods.
- Better sleep: tart cherry also contains naturally occurring melatonin, and studies have found improvements in sleep duration and quality, which is a genuinely underrated recovery tool.
The inflammation nuance every athlete should understand
Here's where it gets interesting, and where a lot of well-meaning advice goes wrong. Inflammation after exercise isn't purely a bad thing. It's part of the signalling process that tells your muscles to adapt and get stronger. This is exactly why sports scientists warn against taking high-dose synthetic antioxidant pills like vitamin C and E year-round, because you can blunt the training adaptation you're working so hard to earn.
Anthocyanins appear to walk a smarter line. Rather than obliterating the inflammatory response, they seem to moderate the excessive, performance-sapping part of it while leaving the useful adaptive signal largely intact. That's why the timing of your intake matters. For everyday base training where adaptation is the goal, you don't necessarily need to supplement. But in the taper before a race, during a heavy multi-day block, or in the crucial 48 hours after a hard event when you need to be functional again quickly, that's when tart cherry earns its keep.
How to use tart cherry for recovery
Dosing is where people tend to fall short. The research typically uses the equivalent of 90–120 tart cherries per day, delivered as concentrate and split into a morning and evening dose. Consistency beats a single heroic dose, because the effect builds up over several days of intake rather than working like a painkiller you take after the fact.
| Training situation | How to use tart cherry | |---|---| | Target race or event | Begin loading 4–5 days before, continue on race day, carry on 2–3 days after | | Heavy multi-day block | Daily intake through the block, split morning and evening where possible | | Hardest training days | An evening dose supports recovery and sleep at the same time | | Everyday base training | Not essential, so let the normal adaptive inflammation do its job |
What we use at FTP Endurance Fuel
Straight answer first, because this whole article rests on knowing what is actually in a product. The Montmorency tart cherry in our range is in Power Fluids Tart Cherry (opens in a new tab), our carbohydrate and electrolyte drink mix. Each 30g serving carries 3g of real dried Montmorency tart cherry alongside 27g of carbohydrate and 300mg of sodium.
That is a food-level inclusion, not the loading dose used in the studies above. If you are chasing the full research protocol around a target race, you want a dedicated Montmorency concentrate taken twice daily, and we would rather tell you that than pretend otherwise. Our Tart Cherry Energy Pastilles are tart cherry flavoured carbohydrate fuel, and we make no anthocyanin or recovery claim for them.
Anthocyanins aren't magic, and no supplement will out-train poor sleep, poor fuelling or a badly structured programme. But if you're already doing the fundamentals well and you're looking for a legitimate, evidence-backed edge in how quickly you bounce back from hard efforts, tart cherry is one of the few recovery tools worth the shelf space.
Find FTP Endurance Fuel on RLS
FTP Endurance Fuel is an RLS Partner, an independent UK endurance nutrition brand shipping from Aberdeen. Chewable energy pastilles, carbohydrate and electrolyte drink mixes and electrolyte tablets, made for long runs and long days out. Recognised in the Runner's World Sports Nutrition Awards 2026 and rated 4.8 from over 440 verified reviews. Run Love Sprint members can find FTP Endurance Fuel in RLS Rewards, along with an exclusive member offer.
