David Saunders
Blackcurrant might not be the first thing you reach for when your motivation hits the winter doldrums, but it could be the one that gets you moving again. That same blackcurrant, when concentrated into CurraNZ – a scientifically backed New Zealand extract – is fast becoming active nutrition’s latest obsession for people who want to do more, but hurt less.
Because let’s be honest: once the nights draw in and the heating goes on, even the most disciplined of us start flirting with the idea that “cosy” is a sport. Exercise may be essential for weight management, heart health and pretty much every system in the body, but winter has a nasty habit of turning good intentions into a pile of unworn leggings and untouched gym memberships.
CurraNZ®, a New Zealand blackcurrant supplement packed with antioxidants and blood-flow-boosting compounds, is being pitched as the little purple nudge that can help get people off the sofa and into their trainers – whatever their current fitness level.
Sports nutritionist Kate Shilland has been looking closely at the science and says the New Zealand Blackcurrant supplement CurraNZ® ticks all the boxes as one of the essential fitness must-haves, from mood and motivation to cardiovascular function and recovery.
Here’s how the research stacks up.
1. A Mood Lift That Gets You Out the Door
The first battle in any fitness comeback isn’t your legs, lungs or lower back – it’s your head. If your mood is flat and everything feels like hard work, you’re not exactly sprinting towards the park.
A study has shown that CurraNZ® can help unfit, sedentary people go further in their self-motivated exercise efforts by improving mood responses to the gentle walking activity.
Scientists tested the New Zealand blackcurrant extract on healthy but sedentary exercisers during low-impact walking, measuring how the berries influenced perceived effort and those all-important ‘feeling scores’.
The results were pretty clear:
- Participants taking CurraNZ® reported less perceived exertion after around 34 minutes of walking.
- Their mood and “feeling” scores stayed consistently higher than the placebo group.
- Three of them happily walked on for two hours.
- Only 10% of the placebo group walked further than 10km – compared with 30% of those in the blackcurrant group.
In simple terms: the same walk felt easier and more enjoyable when they’d taken the supplement. When exercise feels less like punishment, you’re far more likely to go again tomorrow – and that’s where real change comes from.
2. Helping Your Heart Do the Heavy Lifting
Next up, circulation. You can have all the enthusiasm in the world, but if your blood vessels are about as responsive as a broken garden hose, exercise is going to feel grim.
Blackcurrants are prized for their effect on circulation and blood vessel function. They also have a ‘relaxing’ effect on small and large blood vessels, which leads to up to 27% greater cardiac output, lowers blood pressure and increases oxygen and nutrient delivery to lungs and muscles.
The logic is straightforward:
- Higher cardiac output means more oxygen reaching the muscles.
- More oxygen means you can cope better with fatigue.
- Coping better with fatigue means tough sessions feel more manageable, rather than like an audition for a medical drama.
By increasing blood flow up to 35% through the body’s main arteries, taking CurraNZ® pre-exercise is like super-fuel to your muscles. They don’t have to work so hard, thanks to the increased oxygen supply.
By widening blood vessels the New Zealand blackcurrant extract is a big winner for older and unfit people or those with limitations to blood flow, and who may find exertion more difficult – essentially, the berry will make it more comfortable to exercise.
And if you’re the competitive type, there’s more. If you’re a performance-minded individual, then CurraNZ® has been declared THE most effective performance-enhancing supplement in the world by scientists, knocking caffeine, the previous ‘No1’, from its perch.
A review of the sports performance studies on the CurraNZ® blackcurrant supplement demonstrates impressive performance improvements for cycling, climbing and running, with averages of up to 11%. That won’t turn you into an Olympian overnight, but in sport, an 11% edge is the difference between hanging on for dear life and actually enjoying the effort.
3. Tackling DOMS and Speeding Up Recovery
Of course, there’s another major obstacle standing between you and a consistent routine: the day-after carnage.
Screaming muscles are the hardest obstacle to overcome when kicking off any new exercise programme – and the older and more unfit you are, the harder the recovery.
Known as the dreaded ‘DOMS’ (delayed onset muscle soreness), days of pain and suffering after belting the gym is enough to put anyone off. As the path to fitness requires repeat efforts, recovery is key – both mentally and physically.
Here’s where endurance athletes have quietly been singing blackcurrant’s praises. In endurance sport, blackcurrants have become known as ‘magic berries’ for their brilliant effect on muscle recovery. Many of the world’s top sports teams and hard-core athletes swear by them for this reason alone.
The “magic” isn’t a gimmick; it comes from a combination of:
- Supporting the immune system
- Improving blood flow
- Potent antioxidant properties
Together, these create a cellular micro-environment that helps the body cope with the rigours of exercise.
Exercising creates tissue damage and oxidative stress, which, at its worst, is highly damaging to cells and ‘ages’ the body. But blackcurrants’ antioxidant action helps to neutralise free radicals, protect cells and enhance the health benefits of exercise.
Additionally, blackcurrants have broad-spectrum benefits that help stimulate and maintain the immune system and support cell function.
Both are key to appropriate recovery responses. Having a well-functioning immune system is important for anyone who is undertaking high training loads, which places a strain on the body’s first-line defences.
If you’re looking for a product that carries a satisfaction guarantee for muscle recovery, CurraNZ® is one of the few products backed by Informed Sport and loved by the hearts and minds of thousands of people across the UK.
In other words, it’s not a permission slip to train like a maniac and live on takeaway, but it can make the “getting back into it” phase far less brutal on the body and the brain.
So, Are These ‘Magic Berries’ Worth a Place in Your Kit Bag?
CurraNZ isn’t a miracle worker. You still have to lace up your shoes, step outside and do the work. But if you’re struggling with motivation, worried about soreness or simply tired of feeling like every session is uphill in concrete boots, the science behind this blackcurrant supplement is hard to ignore.
So, if you want to move more and ache less this January, grab yourself some ‘magic berries’ – the best training partner around.
Who knows, what this year has in store but, with CurraNZ in your kit bag, we know we’re better equipped to tackle the challenges – and ache less as a result!
