Blackcurrant vs “Lactate‑Lowering” Shots: What the Numbers Don’t Tell You

You may have seen new broccoli‑sprout “lactate‑lowering shots” claiming to reduce lactic acid by 12%. It sounds appealing – but the key question for any serious athlete is simple: is this meaningful and does it actually help you perform better?

A single lactate percentage in isolation doesn’t answer that. It doesn’t tell you if you can run further, sprint faster, or hold power for longer.

CurraNZ (purified New Zealand blackcurrant extract) has been researched very differently. Rather than chasing a headline number, studies have looked at whole‑body responses: how hard athletes can go, how long they can sustain it, and how their lactate profile changes across real‑world efforts.

CurraNZ: harder efforts, real performance gains

In two high‑intensity treadmill studies, active men took 300mg or 600mg of CurraNZ daily for seven days, then repeated an all‑out intermittent running protocol. With CurraNZ, they covered about 11–16% more distance to exhaustion compared with placebo.

That is not a subtle lab signal – it’s the difference between hanging on and getting dropped in a race.

These trials also showed a more favourable lactate picture: runners could sustain the same pattern of high‑intensity efforts with greater absolute lactate decreases in recovery and shifts in lactate threshold, consistent with more efficient handling of high lactate loads rather than simply “making less lactate.”

Smarter lactate profile at submaximal efforts

When you look below all‑out efforts, the blackcurrant lactate story becomes even clearer. In trained triathletes, seven days of New Zealand blackcurrant intake shifted the entire lactate curve. At submaximal workloads (40–70% of maximal power), plasma lactate fell by approximately 13–27% versus placebo.

Crucially, athletes could ride at higher power outputs at both a 1 mmol/L lactate rise and at the 4 mmol/L onset of blood lactate accumulation (OBLA) point, with no change in heart rate or oxygen uptake. In practical terms, they were doing more work at the same lactate, and reaching maximal aerobic capacity with 14% lower peak lactate after exhaustion.

That points to improved lactate production/clearance balance and more economical metabolism – not just a one‑off drop in a single blood sample.

Team sports: holding top speed, stable lactate

In a football‑style field test (the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test), CurraNZ has again been put through its paces. Players completed five 15‑minute blocks of sprints and high‑intensity running, plus a run to exhaustion.

Across the blocks, blood lactate rose early, then was lower in blocks 4 and 5 than in block 1 in both CurraNZ and placebo conditions – indicating athletes did not experience runaway lactate accumulation late in the protocol.

CurraNZ did not need to reduce lactate below placebo to show a benefit. Instead, it helped players maintain their fastest sprint speed better across the test, with less slowing of their quickest 15 m sprint in the final block, on top of this stable lactate profile. That’s exactly what matters in the last minutes of a match.

Cycling: same engine, “cleaner” metabolism

In a 16.1 km cycling time‑trial study, seven days of CurraNZ improved time‑trial performance by about 2.4% and increased fat oxidation at moderate intensity. Cyclists completed the time trial faster and tended to produce more power, at similar heart rates and perceived effort.

Here, the lactate story is nuanced and performance‑driven:

• At rest and submaximal intensities in endurance athletes, blackcurrant lowered lactate at a given workload and increased the power at OBLA.
  
  
• In the high‑intensity cycling time trial, plasma lactate was higher with CurraNZ immediately after the effort and in early recovery, because riders were able to dig deeper and generate more lactate‑producing work while still tolerating and recovering from it.

Put together, these data show that CurraNZ supports a smarter lactate response: less lactate for a given submaximal load, and the ability to tolerate higher lactate at race intensity because you are working harder.

Why CurraNZ stands apart

While some products advertise a modest, isolated reduction in lactate, CurraNZ can point to:

• Multiple randomized, controlled trials in runners, triathletes, cyclists and team‑sport athletes [1–5]
  
• Demonstrable improvements in performance (up to ~16% more distance to exhaustion in repeated running, and meaningful gains in cycling time‑trial and high‑intensity efforts)
  
• Consistent evidence of a more advantageous lactate profile – lower lactate at a given workload, higher workloads at fixed lactate thresholds, and the capacity to tolerate higher end‑exercise lactate because athletes are producing more power and going further.[1–5]

In short, CurraNZ doesn’t just lower a number on a blood test. It helps athletes go harder, last longer, and manage lactate more effectively when it matters most.

References

1. New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract Improves High-Intensity Intermittent Running, Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2015-0020

2. Individual Responses to Repeated Dosing with Anthocyanin-Rich New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract (CurraNZ) During High-Intensity Intermittent Treadmill Running in Active Males, Nutrients 2024, 16, 4253. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16244253

3. Beneficial Effects of New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract on Maximal Sprint Speed during the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test, Sports 2016, 4, 42; doi:10.3390/sports4030042

4. New Zealand Blackcurrant Extract Improves Cycling Performance and Fat Oxidation in Cyclists, Eur J Appl Physiol (2015) 115:2357–2365. DOI 10.1007/s00421-015-3215-8

5. Beneficial Physiological Effects With Blackcurrant Intake in Endurance Athletes, Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/ijsnem.2014-0233