Spring Break
UGA conducts study to find ways for people to run farther
Researcher contacted by The Coca-Cola Co.
JORDAN TATE
Issue date: 11/3/09 Section: News
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Miss your morning vitamins? Drink a Vitamin Water.
Going for a run? Down a Gatorade.
Want to run faster? The Coca-Cola Company is still brewing that one up.
UGA researchers tested quercetin - a plant-dervied nutritional supplement - for its ability to improve exercise performance, on behalf of The Coca-Cola Company.
"More and more consumers are looking for beverages that not only just hydrate," said Allyson Park, communications director for The Coca-Cola Company, "but also provide benefits in the form of vitamins, for example. If the studies show that these types of ingredients can provide a benefit, then we can explore that further and look at [whether] that would make sense for our product portfolio."
Quercetin is a polyphenolic flavonoid that is commonly found in berries, leafy vegetables, black tea and skins of fruit.
There is interest in the supplement because of a study at the University of South Carolina, which found a 37 percent increase in exercise performance in mice.
"They found increased growth of mitochondria and an increased aerobic muscle oxidative capacity, meaning the muscles in the mice could produce more ATP - more chemical energy," said Kirk Cureton, a professor of kinesiology and lead author of the University's study. "That apparently led to improved running performance, although we don't know that that exactly was the reason."
The University's study is the first of its kind to test the effects of quercetin on human subjects who are not endurance trained. The study, published in August, showed there is no correlation between quercetin and higher performance in humans.
"I think the findings are important," Cureton said. "Mainly because the animal research suggested that this would have a strong ergogenic effect - that it would increase performance, actually much like the effects of exercise training. There's been a lot of talk about there being an exercise pill and that would be similar to what would be going on here if there was an ergogenic effect in people. We thought we would find positive results, we didn't. We didn't really find any effects of the quercetin. Effects on mice and people appear to be different."
Media outlets, however, have heralded quercetin as a 'perfect energy supplement' and an 'exercise endurance booster.'
Lance Armstrong sponsors FRS, a product that contains quercetin. The product Web site draws on past animal research to support its claims that it helps people 'fuel up.' Armstrong's endorsement is linked to the heavy publicity surrounding quercetin, but Cureton says that his study goes against these claims.
