Effect of hibiscus-ginger juice consumption on aerobic power and selected physiological variables of athletes of the University of Cape coast

Abstract

places a demand on athletes which leads them to always look for an edge to improve their performance to remain competitive at all times. In this stead, the use of ergogenic aids has become common bu without side effects. Therefore in more recent times, natural dietary sources of ergogenic aids is becoming popular in sports. Hibiscus-ginger juice has high vitamin and mineral contents, making it important for the improvement of metabolism, recovery after exercise, reduction of inflammation, and enhancement of athletic performance. The study was therefore to explore the opportunity hibiscus ginger juice presents for performance improvement. This pretest-posttest experimental design included 28 university athletes aged between 20 and 37 years. The- athletes were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups with the treatment group allocated to daily dosages of 500ml hibiscus-ginger juice after training for 24 days. Physiological measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and blood lactate levels as well as aerobic power were measured on three different occasions within the period. Mixed model ANOVA results showed no significant results for all heart rate (p = .645), systolic blood pressure, (p = .211), diastolic blood pressure (p = .904), blood lactate levels (p = .502) and aerobic power (p = .117). 500ml of hibiscus-ginger juice taken daily for 24 days did not cause a significant change in the aerobic power of athletes in training. Therefore, athletes who consume hibiscus-ginger juice may not have an advantage over their colleagues who do not.