Acerola to Increase Performance as an Athlete

Acerola, I'm sure you've heard of that before. Although you won't find it fresh in most countries, it is now found dried as superfood in many breakfast shops or as juice on the shelves of our supermarkets. But what is Acerola actually?

What is Acerola?

Acerola is also called acerola cherry. Nevertheless, it has absolutely nothing to do with the cherry we know. But the name is based on this, because the acerola looks relatively similar to the cherry.

Botanically they are two very different categories: The acerola belongs to the malphighiae family to which also lianas belong. However, they do have something in common when it comes to appearance. The fruit of the acerola tree is between one and two centimetres in size, round and red in colour.

Its home is far away from Europe, namely in tropical South America. Its place of origin is Mexico. Today, acerola is also found in Jamaica, Florida, Panama, Guatemala and Brazil. Here the tree also grows naturally, for example on river banks or in damp gorges. Acerola thrives best in humid and subtropical climates.

What makes the acerola so special?

Their top class is the supply of vitamin C. Of course, this can also be obtained from other fruits, but the Acerola simply tops everything. The acerola cherry contains 1700mg vitamin C per 100g fruit.

For comparison oranges, which are known for their high vitamin C content, only contain 45mg per 100g fruit! So nobody can keep up with the acerola cherry. In addition, the stone fruit also contains other important vitamins. These include provitamin A, vitamin B1, B2 and vitamin B6. The fruit can also serve with minerals such as magnesium, iron and zinc.

The acerola cherry consists of over 80% liquid. The skin of the fruit is so thin that it cannot be transported. In addition the sensitive fruits spoil already three days after the harvest. For this reason, you will only see acerola as a fruit outside its growing areas in very rare moments.

In this country you will therefore find acerola juices or the dried form of the fruit. Sometimes they are also found as a fruit spread, although the effect as a vitamin C supplier is no longer in the foreground here.

Acerola: Superfruit and high in Vitamin C

Vitamin C, which is also known as ascorbic acid, is involved in many processes in the human body. The daily requirement of vitamin C is given as 100mg. However, this is actually always exceeded in a healthy diet. However, this does not matter, because the body also makes use of this surplus.

Vitamin C is generally known as the substance that keeps us healthy and strengthens our immune system. But ascorbic acid can do much more. For example, it is an important antioxidant and protects your body from free radicals. The vitamin also protects the blood vessels by controlling blood flow. It also keeps the inner walls of arteries smooth, making it difficult for cholesterol and other substances to accumulate there.

If you ingest calcium and iron and eat foods that are very rich in these two minerals, you should also be able to add something rich in vitamins. Vitamin C improves the absorption of calcium and iron. And of course vitamin C strengthens your immune system and keeps you fit all around.

This is exactly why you should consider considering vitamin C supplementation. After all, your training should give you pleasure and being active should be fun. But if you are often ill and suffer from colds, this can dampen your enjoyment of sport. You should also slow down with an infection anyway and not overexert your body.

But it would be better if you could prevent this infection as much as possible.
This is an indirect way to increase your performance, because the additional intake of vitamin C will significantly reduce your downtime. In addition you do your body with ascorbic acid in general something good.

Vitamin C can be ingested through food, especially from fruit and vegetables. For example, the juice of the acerola cherry is very valuable. Of course, other foods also help you to cover your vitamin C needs.

Acerola for athletes

For you as an athlete it is recommended to supplement vitamin C. In this way you can supply the power vitamin in a targeted way and above all absorb it in a controlled way. Supplements containing vitamin C from natural sources are highly recommended. Capsules or tablets containing acerola powder are therefore the best because of their high vitamin content.

Firstly, you need to take less supplements and secondly, with the acerola cherry you can be sure that you have a natural source of vitamin C in front of you. You'll probably also find synthetic ascorbic acid when you're looking for vitamin C supplements. The package label should state whether the vitamin C is natural or synthetic.

Mostly, however, the tablets or capsules that do not explicitly indicate their natural origin are chemically produced. Even though this is ascorbic acid, it has a different effect on your body than natural vitamin C. Here the vitamin gets isolated into your body without being bound to other substances. But you need these, because isolated ascorbic acid has a very aggressive effect on the stomach and sensitive mucous membranes. Often side effects like heartburn are the case. In order to dampen the acid, your body has to provide minerals to compensate. In the long run it can therefore come to a lack of these minerals, although you actually wanted to do something good for your body.

Side effects are not to be expected with a high dose of vitamin C, because superfluous vitamin C is simply excreted in the urine.

So if you want to do something for your general health and at the same time make sure that you have fewer failures in your training process, Acerola is really recommended. Its high vitamin C content is incomparable and makes it a perfect companion in your daily training routine.