Under normal conditions, moderate and even intense exercise is very healthy. It does, however, put a lot of oxidative stress on the body. Oxidative stress has been linked to a lot of nasty things like cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney problems and more. In the case of exercise, all this is fine because the oxidative stress caused by working out is usually moderate and it forces the body to adapt, allowing you to build a natural resistance to it. This is why exercise is considered to be a natural “antioxidant.”
However, there is evidence that extended, heavy and sustained exercise can put too much oxidative stress on the body. This could lead to those health risks mentioned earlier.
One of the ways to combat the stress is through the use of antioxidants. Vitamin C, Vitamin A, lycopene, these are all common antioxidants. You can easily get them by eating fruits and vegetables, and they are the body’s first line of defense against free-radical damage.
Quercetin is a flavonoid, an antioxidant found in plants. It has gotten a lot of press over the last few years because some studies have shown that it can improve sports performance and counteract exercise-induced oxidative stress. If only it were that simple.
According to Antioxidants in Sports Nutrition by Konrad and Neiman, quercetin supplementation, by itself, doesn’t really do a whole lot for combating oxidative stress, but when taken with other antioxidants:
Taken together, the results and benefits of pure high-dose quercetin as an antioxidant are very limited, and in contrast, using quercetin as part of an antioxidant-cocktail has been found to be much more efficient and can be generally recommended.
Furthermore, the research shows that food sources were better than supplements.
There seems to be better evidence to support the intake of foods rich in antioxidants within the diet than there is for supplementation due to the consequence of increased uric acid levels
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Data are limited and the method and regimens vary widely, but the main conclusion is that flavonoid–nutrient mixtures or any extracts of fruits, vegetables and tea consumed acutely or chronically before exercise diminish post-exercise oxidative stress, inflammation and delayed onset muscle soreness. To avoid the risk of exceeding intake, the most effective way is to consume a varied diet focused on fruit, vegetables and whole grain
In this case, the great thing about a whole-food juice like LeafGreens is that it provides the nutrition and the flavonoid profiles of six vegetables–spinach, arugula, Swiss chard, kale, broccoli and barley leaf–without the pre-exercise bulk of fresh produce. Apart from quercetin, LeafGreens contains plenty of antioxidants like sulforaphane, kaempferol and lutein among othe
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