Acute Effects of New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract on Cycling Time-Trial Are Performance Dependent in Endurance-Trained Cyclists: A Home-Based Study

• Main Authors: Stefano Montanari (Author), Sam D. Blacker (Author), Mark E. T. Willems (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2023-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/sports11050093; 2075-4663
• Keywords: anthocyanins; sports nutrition; supplement; exercise physiology; cycling performance; Sports; GV557-1198.995
• Source: Sports, Vol 11, Iss 5, p 93 (2023)

The intake of anthocyanin-rich New Zealand blackcurrant (NZBC) extract (300 mg per day) over a week enhanced 16.1 km cycling time trial (TT) performance in endurance-trained cyclists without acute performance effects. In the present study, the acute effects of an intake of 900 mg of NZBC extract 2 h before performing the 16.1 km cycling TT were examined. A total of 34 cyclists (26 males; 8 females) (age: 38 ± 7 years, <inline-formula><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><semantics><mrow><mover accent="true"><mrow><mi>V</mi></mrow><mo>˙</mo></mover></mrow></semantics></math></inline-formula>O_2max: 57 ± 5 mL·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹) completed 4 16.1 km TTs (2 familiarization and 2 experimental trials) over 4 mornings on a home turbo-trainer connected with the online training simulator ZWIFT. There was no difference in time to complete the 16.1 km TT between conditions (placebo: 1422 ± 104 s; NZBC extract: 1414 ± 93 s, <i>p</i> = 0.07). However, when participants were split between faster (<1400 s; 1 female; 16 males) and slower (>1400 s; 7 females; 10 males) cyclists based on average familiarization TTs, a difference in TT performance was observed only in the slower group (placebo: 1499 ± 91 s; NZBC extract: 1479 ± 83 s, <i>p</i> = 0.02). At 12 km (quartile analysis), power output (<i>p</i> = 0.04) and speed (<i>p</i> = 0.04) were higher compared to the placebo with no effects on heart rate and cadence. The acute effects of 900 mg of NZBC extract on a 16.1 km cycling time-trial may depend on the performance ability of male endurance-trained cyclists. More work is needed to address whether there is a sex-specific time-trial effect of NZBC extract independent of performance ability.