Anthocyanin-rich new zealand blackcurrant: Implications for health

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INTRODUCTION
Studies on the post-exercise effects by fruits (e.g. blueberry/banana and metabolic recovery after 75 km cycling (1), cherry and recovery following marathon running (2), chokeberry and rowing-induced inflammation and iron metabolism (3), blueberry and natural killer cells, oxidative stress and inflammation after 2.5 h of running (4), bilberry and muscle damage and inflammation after a half-marathon (5), and blackcurrant and rowing-induced oxidative stress and inflammation (6)) provided the diversity of responses with application for athletes. Some of the observations from these studies can be linked to the fruit-induced anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effect by regular fruit intake can also provide health benefits due to the major class of polyphenols, the flavonoids and major sub-class the anthocyanins (7) with an importance for anthocyanin type and content (8). Dark-colored berries are rich in anthocyanins. In berry-producing plants, anthocyanins are secondary metabolites with a suggested role in stress protection (9). The berry blackcurrant (Ribes Nigrum Linnaeus) contains primarily the anthocyanins delphinidin-3-O-rutinoside (~51.5%), delphinidin-3-O-glucoside (~14.6%), cyanidin-3-O-rutinoside (~27.1%) and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (~4.2%) (www.phenol-explorer (10)). This mini-review will address potential effects by short-term intake of powder and extract made from New Zealand blackcurrant on some physiological and metabolic responses at rest and during exercise in physical active individuals with application for human health.