EXERCISE

CONTEXT: Supplementing with fruits high in anthocyanins to reduce exercise-induced oxidative stress and inflammation has produced mixed results.

OBJECTIVE: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to discuss the impact of whole fruits high in anthocyanins, including processing methods and the type and amount of fruit, on inflammation and oxidative stress.

DATA SOURCES: PICOS reporting guidelines and a customized coding scheme were used to search 5 databases (SPORTDiscus, Science Direct, Web of Science [BIOSIS], Medline [Pubmed], and the Cochrane Collaboration) with additional cross-referencing selection.

DATA EXTRACTION: A random-effects meta-analysis was used to measure effects of the fruit supplements with 3 statistics; the QTotal value based on aχ2 distribution, τ2 value, and I2 value were used to determine homogeneity of variances on 22 studies (out of 807). Outliers were identified using a relative residual value.

RESULTS: A small significant negative summary effect across the sum of all inflammatory marker outcomes (P<0.001) and a moderate negative effect for the sum of all oxidative stress marker outcomes (P = 0.036) were found. Moderator analyses did not reveal significant (P>0.05) differences between subgrouping variables.

CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that consumption of whole fruit high in anthocyanins can be beneficial for reducing inflammation and oxidative stress.