You may have heard people talk about “burning fat” during exercise. The scientific term is fat oxidation, and it simply means your body is using fat as a source of energy.

We normally use a mixture of fat and carbohydrate to fuel exercise. The balance changes depending on things like how hard and how long we exercise, what we eat and how well trained we are.

For endurance athletes, fat oxidation is particularly interesting because our carbohydrate stores are limited, while even a lean athlete has a relatively large amount of energy stored as fat.

So, where do blackcurrants come into this?

New Zealand blackcurrants are naturally high in anthocyanins – the pigments that give the berries their deep purple colour. Researchers have been studying these compounds for a number of years, including their possible effects on exercise and the way our bodies use fuel.

Some of the findings around fat oxidation are pretty interesting.

In 2017, Cook and colleagues studied 15 endurance-trained male cyclists. After taking different amounts of New Zealand blackcurrant extract for seven days, the cyclists completed two hours of moderate-intensity cycling.

The researchers found that fat oxidation increased as the amount of blackcurrant extract increased. At the two higher doses, fat oxidation was around 22–24% greater than when the cyclists weren't taking the extract.

Then, in 2018, Strauss and colleagues looked at endurance-trained women.

Sixteen women took either New Zealand blackcurrant extract or a placebo for seven days before completing two hours of cycling. With the blackcurrant extract, their average fat oxidation was 27% higher than with the placebo.

The researchers also found evidence of greater availability of fatty acids in the blood, which may help explain why more fat was being used as fuel.

For an endurance athlete, being able to draw more readily on fat as a fuel during prolonged exercise could be useful because it may reduce reliance on the body's limited carbohydrate stores.

That doesn't mean carbohydrates aren't important. Carbohydrate remains a key fuel for endurance sport, particularly when the intensity goes up.

Also, burning more fat during exercise isn't the same thing as losing body fat.

These studies measured which fuels people were using while exercising. They didn't show that taking blackcurrants causes weight loss. Long-term body fat is influenced by diet, activity, energy balance and plenty of other factors.

Nevertheless, this research provides intriguing evidence that New Zealand blackcurrants may influence how the body fuels exercise. More studies are needed to understand exactly how blackcurrant anthocyanins produce these effects and how relevant they may be to different groups of people.

What we do know is that New Zealand blackcurrants are naturally rich in anthocyanins, and research continues to uncover fascinating connections between these intensely coloured berries, exercise and human metabolism.

Want to add blackcurrants to your daily wellness routine? Check out our ViBERi Blackcurrant Essentials today!

References

Cook, M.D., Myers, S.D., Gault, M.L., Edwards, V.C. & Willems, M.E.T. (2017). Dose effects of New Zealand blackcurrant on substrate oxidation and physiological responses during prolonged cycling. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 117, 1207–1216.

Strauss, J.A., Willems, M.E.T. & Shepherd, S.O. (2018). New Zealand blackcurrant extract enhances fat oxidation during prolonged cycling in endurance-trained females. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 118, 1265–1272.