This May, CurraNZ officially launched into the US sports science and performance nutrition arena with a commanding presence at the 2025 American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Meeting, the largest and most prestigious event of its kind globally.
Our symposium, “Blackcurrant Polyphenol Benefits for Exercise Performance and Health” drew strong attendance and set the stage for exceptional engagement with leading researchers, practitioners, and brands at our exhibition booth.
Spearheading the launch was a presentation of the rapidly-advancing research on New Zealand blackcurrants - the polyphenol with the highest level of evidence for sports and exercise performance applications. The symposium was delivered by Dr Sam Shepherd, Jeni Pearce and Professor Mark Willems, pictured above (L-R).
With over a decade of published peer-reviewed studies, New Zealand blackcurrants – spearheaded by CurraNZ, with over 60 product-specific human trials - now sit well ahead of the field in terms of scientific evidence and efficacy for sport and exercise.
The hallmark of blackcurrants to date is its consistent ability to improve endurance, accelerate recovery, enhance cardiovascular function and substrate use, and support gut and metabolic health.
Setting the Stage: Jeni Pearce on Anthocyanins in Elite Sport
Jeni Pearce, RD, MSc (High Performance Sport New Zealand), opened the session with a compelling overview of polyphenols including the anthocyanins, setting the scene for their growing relevance in performance nutrition.
She outlined how New Zealand blackcurrants, thanks to their unique growing conditions, produce some of the world’s richest anthocyanin profiles, particularly delphinidins and cyanidins, which are now being integrated into elite sport recovery and performance protocols.
Pearce stressed the importance of standardised, batch-tested capsule formats like CurraNZ® for dosing consistency and anti-doping compliance in elite athletes - highlighting the need for precision, defined dosing in product formats and efficacy in applied sports nutrition.
Performance Highlights: Prof. Mark Willems
Next up, Professor Mark Willems, PhD, FECSS (University of Chichester, UK - pictured, above) charted the key blackcurrant extract performance trials, which have shown efficacy in:
- Improving time-trial performance by 2.4%, with some individuals gaining up to 8.7%
- Enhancing sprint maintenance during repeated high-intensity efforts
- Increasing distance to exhaustion in interval running protocols by 11%
- Reducing GI damage and symptoms during heat-stress exercise
He also reported on repeatability studies showing up to 16% improvement in responders, reinforcing blackcurrant’s individual variability and the importance of personalised dosing strategies.
Metabolic Masterclass: Dr. Sam Shepherd
Next, Dr. Sam Shepherd, PhD, RNut (Head of Sports Science for Precision Hydration, former Reader in Exercise Metabolism and Nutrition at Liverpool John Moores University (UK) - pictured right), delivered a decade-spanning look at how New Zealand blackcurrant anthocyanins in CurraNZ can shift fuel use toward fat oxidation.
Key studies showed that CurraNZ supplementation:
- Inducsed gender-specific increases in fat oxidation of 20-29% during steady-state endurance exercise
- Has dose-dependent effects, especially with 600-900 mg extract over 7 days
- Produces notable responses in trained females, with modest but meaningful shifts in fat metabolism
Dr. Shepherd also revealed new muscle biopsy data and evidence of blackcurrant-driven changes at the muscle level. (Pending publication – watch this space for details).
A surprising twist? Blackcurrant may enhance muscle glycogen resynthesis - even under suboptimal carbohydrate recovery - and improve insulin sensitivity, showing benefits for metabolic recovery and flexibility.
Why It Matters
The symposium underlined CurraNZ’s emergence as a powerful, scientifically validated performance enhancer, with benefits across:
- Endurance and high-intensity sports
- Fat metabolism and muscle fuel use
- Gastrointestinal and recovery support
The strong showing at ACSM confirmed CurraNZ is fast becoming a serious player in global elite sports nutrition, with future studies already in motion to explore gender responses, dosing strategies, and mechanistic insights.
For full Symposium Proceedings, contact info@curranz.com