Archive for April, 2010

Advertisements for antioxidant supplements make some tantalizing promises about how their products can benefit athletes. Those sales pitches often rely upon some compelling scientific truths as the basis for what often turn out to be misleading claims.

Wouldn’t it be great if certain foods relieved muscle aches and pains and simply eating could help us avoid the soreness that often follows a hard workout? Recent research touted by cherry producers suggests that cherries may have NSAID-like effects (NSAIDs are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen), dulling the pain in muscles stressed by too much exercise.

Athletes young and old are well aware of the aches, pains, sprains, and strains that often accompany training and competition, so it’s no surprise that use of NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) is common among athletes. But do NSAIDs actually deliver the pain-relief that athletes seek and, if so, are those benefits worth the risk of using drugs with well-established side effects?

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. So goes the old saying intended to convey the futility of trying to get people to do things they are unmotivated to do. As it turns out, there is a fair amount of unintended science behind that time-worn idiom.

Simply put, no prescription medication or dietary supplement is powerful enough to produce the myriad
benefits of regular physical activity. Whether you prefer to call it training, working out, exercising, being active, or just plain moving, almost anything you do beyond being a couch potato will benefit your health. Not surprisingly, when it comes to health benefits, more activity is better than less activity, but just how active is active enough?