Ginger and turmeric are the rock stars of the spice world and the leading heroes in our MOJU range. They’ve been consumed for thousands of years, and for very good reason. Ginger and turmeric shots provide a plethora of different benefits, but today we want to focus on how they can supercharge recovery.
First up, let's tackle turmeric. There are over 100 different molecules within this root, but the one most people know about, and most of the research has focused on is curcumin. From a family known as curcuminoids, of which there are three, it’s curcumin that provides the amazing recovery benefits found in turmeric shots; but the other compounds play their part, too. This is the very reason why MOJU champions the use of whole roots, fruits and veg rather than extracts. After all, nature knows best.
MOJU’s ginger shots and turmeric shots are used by elite athletes in a range of professional sports; from Premier League football to Formula 1, consumed as part of their everyday protocols to keep their athletes on the field. When it comes to recovery, however, there is arguably no better place to put ginger and turmeric to the test than on the rugby field. Elite rugby professionals push their bodies to the absolute maximum, and recovery is vital to allow them to keep on performing week in, week out. We have been fortunate to carry out research with two elite rugby teams in the UK - Munster Rugby Club and Edinburgh Rugby Club. They included our ginger and turmeric in their nutritional setup to support the players and manage their recovery. First, Munster Rugby Club.
Recovery is a vital component of an athlete’s training and competition programme. Munster Rugby understood the benefits of ginger and turmeric shots in managing the damaging effects of training and games on players and how they can assist in their recovery procedures. The players absolutely loved having a natural food product to benefit their performance, and it tasted so darn good, so there were no issues with the players consuming the turmeric shots, bonus!
To review how effective the ginger and turmeric shots were, Munster ran a number of trials with different recovery markers. One test that is used quite frequently in sport is called the ‘drop jump’ test. Players step off a bench onto a mat and jump as high as they can whilst their reaction time is recorded.
This test assesses their neuromuscular fatigue, which shows how well the muscles can develop force and power. If this level is reduced, you know the players are not recovering well from training and games. As a result, changes are made to the training and nutrition protocols to get on top of this!
It was evident that the ginger and turmeric shots worked for Munster’s rugby players as they saw improvements in jump scores throughout the season; the prime time when typically, fatigue would build up and the scores would drop off, especially when approaching the end of the season. However, the scores showed that players were making small to moderate improvements in their jump performance, indicating a well-recovered player.
This is fantastic news for Munster Rugby and allowed them to see the changes in performance in an elite setting. In the past, the changes have been minuscule and barely detectable. Yet, when you accumulate these tiny gains across a squad, it can make a significant impact on team performance and success.