Berries and raw food for athletes: benefits and risks

Berries are one of the easiest ways to improve your diet. In Estonia you’ll find them in forests, gardens and markets, and in summer there are more than enough. A raw food diet, meaning you eat only uncooked food, is a different matter and rather risky for an active person.

Why are berries an easy win for a padel player’s diet?

Berries are high in nutrients and low in calories. Strawberries, for example, provide about 32 kcal, 2 g of fibre and 46–59 mg of vitamin C per 100 grams.

Blackcurrants are one of the best sources of vitamin C: 100 grams contain about 130–180 mg, and according to toitumine.ee, just over 70 grams covers your daily requirement. Vitamin C also helps your body absorb iron from plant foods. Bilberries (wild blueberries), lingonberries and other dark berries contain anthocyanins and other polyphenols as well.

Berries make it easy to meet the recommendation, too: according to the Estonian dietary guidelines, you should eat at least two portions of fruit or berries a day, about 200 grams in total.

Which Estonian berries are the most nutritious?

Berry	What stands out
Blackcurrant	vitamin C, about 130–180 mg per 100 g
Sea buckthorn	vitamin C, but the amount varies widely depending on the variety and where it grows
Strawberry	vitamin C 46–59 mg and few calories, about 32 kcal per 100 g
Bilberry (wild blueberry)	anthocyanins: bilberries can contain more than twice as much as cultivated blueberries
Lingonberry	polyphenols and fibre
Cranberry	fibre, few calories

The values are approximate and depend on the variety, ripeness and database. Exact figures are in NutriData, the Estonian food composition database.

Do berries help you recover after a match?

A little. Don’t expect miracles. Most studies have used juice concentrates or extracts, and only a few have used ordinary berries:

Marathon runners who drank tart cherry juice for five days before the race, on race day and for two days afterwards got their strength back faster.
In a meta-analysis of tart cherry juice studies, strength returned and muscle soreness eased faster, but CK (creatine kinase), a marker of muscle damage, did not change.
In a meta-analysis of 25 studies on polyphenol-rich foods, juices and concentrates, the effect on recovery was small to moderate.
New Zealand blackcurrant extract improved endurance performance in some studies, but not in others.
Women who drank a blueberry smoothie got their muscle strength back faster after hard exercise.

The studies are small, and there are none on padel. In practice: eat berries every day as part of your normal diet. Recreational players don’t need concentrates or supplements.

Can antioxidants do harm?

In large doses as supplements, they can. In a study where participants took 1 g of vitamin C a day during a training period, their endurance developed more slowly than in the placebo group. In another study, where participants took vitamins C and E together, the vitamins also held back muscle adaptation.

Ordinary berries are not the same as large doses of vitamins from a pill. You can eat berries with peace of mind. You don’t need high-dose supplements.

What is a raw food diet?

A raw food diet means eating most or all of your food uncooked. It is usually plant-based: fruit and vegetables, berries, nuts, seeds and sprouts. Strict forms of the diet exclude cooked grains, potatoes and pulses.

Is a raw food diet suitable for a padel player?

Raw food is good as part of your diet. But as your only way of eating, a raw food diet is not suitable for an active person without guidance from a nutrition specialist.

Energy intake falls short. In a German study of long-term raw food eaters, about 15% of the men and 25% of the women were underweight, and about a third of the women under 45 had irregular periods or none at all.
Vitamin B12 runs low. In another study, about 38% of raw food eaters had vitamin B12 deficiency, and homocysteine levels were high.
Bones suffer. In a small study (18 people), long-term raw food eaters had lower bone mass than people on a typical diet.
Other nutrients are at risk too: vitamin D, calcium, iodine, iron, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids and protein.

For athletes, a lack of energy is especially serious. When your body gets too little energy for the training you do, your hormones, bones, immune system and performance suffer. The International Olympic Committee calls this condition Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs).

Is raw food always healthier than cooked food?

No. Cooking reduces some nutrients, such as vitamin C, but makes others easier to absorb. You get more lycopene out of heated tomatoes, and your body absorbs more beta-carotene from cooked carrots. Dried beans must be boiled before you eat them, because they are toxic raw. A mix is best: some raw, some cooked.

Are frozen berries just as good?

Nutritionally, yes: according to toitumine.ee, frozen berries keep their nutrients at a level close to that of fresh berries. When it comes to safety, though, there is one important exception.

Imported frozen berries, especially raspberries, have caused several outbreaks of norovirus and hepatitis A in Europe. Freezing does not destroy the virus.
The Finnish Food Authority recommends heating imported frozen berries before eating so that they are at least 90°C all the way through for 5 minutes, or boiling them for 2 minutes at home.
Check the country of origin on the pack, not the packer’s country. Berries grown abroad can also be packed here in Estonia.

Wild berries are a different story. According to the Estonian Health Board (Terviseamet), echinococcosis, which is caused by the fox tapeworm, is rare in Estonia and the risk of infection is very low. You can be infected through berries or mushrooms contaminated with tapeworm eggs. Don’t eat large amounts of unwashed wild berries, and wash your hands with soap after picking. Heat treatment, for example making jam, destroys the eggs.

How should you eat berries on a padel day?

In the morning, porridge or quark with berries.
After the match, a kefir or yoghurt smoothie with berries, which gives you carbohydrates, protein and fluid in one go.
A handful of fresh or dried berries as a snack. Dried berries and fruit can replace up to two portions of fresh fruit a week.
In winter, frozen berries (heat imported berries before eating them).

Jam and juice contain a lot of sugar, and juice has little fibre, so whole berries beat both.

If you remember one thing from this page, make it this: eat berries every day, heat imported frozen berries, and don’t make raw food your only way of eating if you train several times a week. We cover nutrition more broadly in the nutrition guide. If you have a diet-related health problem, talk to your family doctor (GP) or a nutritionist.

Berries and raw food: what they do for a padel player