How to Maintain Healthy Muscle and Joint Comfort Following Exercise

Everyone experiences soreness and aches from time to time after exercise. Whether you're a competitive athlete, a weekend warrior or just simply amble about – it's normal to feel some side effects following a workout or exertion.

The typical advice given is to cool down after a workout, get a massage, and use heating pads and ice packs to ease aches and soreness. But what if there were a far more effective way to maintain your muscle and joint health and comfort so you could exercise with few, if any, side effects?

There is! Researchers have discovered two supplements that are incredibly effective: curcumin and pomegranate ––particularly the fusion of two very special forms of these compounds:

• Pomella®, a patented pomegranate extract; and

• Longvida® Curcumin, a patented and highly bioavailable form of curcumin.

New research indicates that by consuming Pomella® pomegranate extract and Longvida® curcumin, casual athletes and exercise enthusiasts may be able to recover faster and with more comfort.

For anyone who competes regularly, or exercises simply for good health, consuming this supplement combo may result in better training and performance. For everyone else, taking curcumin and pomegranate together offers the potential for maintaining better health, more consistent and improved performance, and a higher quality of life.

Imagine a Full Training Session Less Than 2 Days After Running a Half-Marathon

A return to full training happened quickly for volunteers in a study who took a new product that combined Pomella® and Longvida®.

For the trial, researchers divided men and women ages 26 to 45 who were preparing for a half marathon into two groups. One group received curcumin and pomegranate. The other was the control group and got a placebo. The athletes took their assigned supplements during race preparation.

The difference between the two groups was dramatic. For one, those taking this highly bioavailable form of pomegranate and curcumin returned to normal training within 48 hours after they had raced. That’s amazingly fast as typical recovery time for athletes who run a half-marathon is between five and seven days.

The researchers also noted:

• An overall healthier inflammatory response both during training and after the race.

• The maintenance of a healthy immune system, which was of special interest to researchers as endurance athletes often suffer from a weaker immune response.

• Participants in the Pomella®/Longvida® group said they maintained their normal muscle and joint health after the event as compared to those in the control group.

This is great news for men and women who enjoy athletic competition and who exercise regularly. Faster recovery means a quicker return to training. Healthier joints and muscles mean higher quality training, making it easier to achieve your personal goals. This also means a better quality of life.

Of course, the results of this study also shows potential benefits for anyone who works in the garden, does any type of physical labor, or who may just participate in various exercises or sports. After all, you don’t have to run a half-marathon to experience after-effects from physical activity.

So why does this curcumin/pomegranate combo work so effectively? It unites compounds from two of nature’s most potent substances proven to support health, healing and recovery.

What Happens to Muscles and Joints When You Exercise?

Let's take a look at the relationship between muscles, joints, exercise and aging. Exercise - really any type of physical exertion - wears down the cartilage in the joints, creating inflammation. When we’re young, the body’s natural repair mechanisms respond quickly. As we age, this response become encumbered and slows down.

Today we know inadequate or slowed healing of cartilage, especially in athletes, leads to increased joint pain and reduced mobility. Oftentimes, athletes and exercisers do not allow sufficient time to recover from their exertions. When training resumes too soon and the cartilage doesn't heal completely, the result can be long-term cartilage loss and potentially chronic joint pain.

Proper nutrition and adequate recovery time are essential to protect cartilage. During recovery, the body requires nutrients to produce Type II collagen for cartilage repair and hyaluronic acid needed to lubricate the joints. If collagen levels fall too low or your cartilage becomes too damaged, repair may stop altogether. And, as you may know, collagen levels have been found to naturally decrease with age.

Similarly, your body’s ability to deal with inflammation decreases with age, which can be a problem for recovery from athletic competition. Inflammation is a natural response to muscle work, especially from intense exertion, like running a half-marathon. After vigorous exercise, muscle tissue breaks down and is then rebuilt stronger than before. Inflammation is integral to this rebuilding process. The challenge, however, is keeping the inflammatory response under control so that it doesn't persist chronically.

Both cartilage health and the ability to control inflammation rely on good blood flow to deliver the nutrients needed for recovery. The capacity of your blood vessels to expand and contract is vital to the speed and quality of your performance during training and competition and during post-event healing.

Antioxidants in pomegranates and curcumin have been shown to support all three of these essential facets of exercise recovery and help you maintain a healthy inflammatory response. That’s why ProHealth Longevity created Optimized Curcumin Longvida® with Pomella® Pomegranate Extract, a fusion of Pomella®, a patented pomegranate extract, and Longvida® curcumin, a patented and highly bioavailable form of curcumin.

Pomella's Antioxidants Support Cartilage and Cardiovascular Health

Pomegranates are an antioxidant-rich fruit. Although pomegranates contain a variety of antioxidant-scavenging polyphenols, one type, called punicalagins, has proven to be one of the most potent. Pomella® was developed specifically to provide these potent punicalagins.  

University of Rhode Island researchers studied punicalagins as supplied by Pomella® and found they protected cartilage better than antioxidant powerhouses curcumin, quercetin and EGCG (the polyphenols in green tea). The researchers specifically observed less activity in collagen reducing enzymes known as matrix metalloproteinases, or MMPs. This is important for both recovery and long-term outcomes, given that at a certain point the degradation of Type II collagen in cartilage cannot be reversed. As more and more cartilage breaks down, the speed of breakdown increases.

Other studies report antioxidants in pomegranate extracts like Pomella® maintain blood vessel flexibility, an important factor in cardiovascular health and your body’s ability to deliver nutrients where they're needed. Pomegranate antioxidants have been found to support nitric oxide, the molecule responsible for the expansion and contraction of blood vessels. By supporting blood flow, damaged cells and waste can more effectively be removed and nutrients delivered to and from the site of injury, especially in joints where blood flow is limited.

Longvida® Speeds Muscle Recovery and Supports Blood Flow

Curcumin has been both lauded and criticized by researchers. Years ago, lab tests found curcumin possesses incredible anti-inflammatory effects. Human trials presented mixed results. The reason was simple: the human body metabolizes curcumin very quickly with only a small percentage, usually around 5%, ever making it into the blood. Longvida® solved this problem and increased curcumin bioavailability up to 285 times more than regular curcumin.

Like pomegranates, curcumin has shown amazing antioxidant activity. This led researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder to see if Longvida® curcumin would boost nitric oxide levels in the body. After 12 weeks, patients in the curcumin group saw blood flow increase 37%. The placebo group remained unchanged. Researches also reported the daily 2,000 mg dose of Longvida® was well-tolerated and safe when taken during the 12-week trial.

As we have seen, good blood flow is essential to deliver the necessary nutrients to maintain healthy cartilage and support a healthy inflammatory response.

A Safe Way for Athletes, Exercise Enthusiasts and Others to Support Joints and Muscles

By and large, post-performance inflammation remains a challenge for athletes of every caliber. Professional athletes, casual competitors, exercise enthusiasts, and people who simply want to move better may benefit from a combination of Pomella® and Longvida® Optimized Curcumin. Together, they offer a safe and natural alternative for anyone seeking to maintain muscle and joint health and maintain a healthy inflammatory response following exercise and athletics.

As always, anyone with a medical condition and pregnant and breastfeeding women should consult with their doctor before taking any supplements.

References:

Tanner EA et al. Effects of systemic, exercise-induced skeletal muscle injury. J Immunol. 2018. 200(Supplement 1): 42.14 LP-42.14

 Jean-Giles D et al. Chem-Bio Inter. 2013 Jun 20. 205: 90-99. DOI: 10.1016/j.cbi.2013.06.018

 Santos-Parker JR et al. Aging. 2017. DOI: 10.18632/aging.101149.