Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the United States, affecting nearly 21 million adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The pain and stiffness can be difficult to treat, with medications often associated with serious long-term side effects. Researchers looking for safer effective treatments are turning to alternatives like cherries due to their anti-inflammatory properties,which show potential to work even better than over-the-counter drugs.
Identification
The fruit of the cherry tree is often categorized as being sweet or tart, with over 270 varieties of tart cherries alone. Tart, or sour, cherry trees are native to Europe but were brought to America and used by Cherokee Indians as a remedy for arthritis and gout. A serving of 100 g of the fruit contains 1,000 international units of vitamin A, 10 times that contained in sweet cherries and a quarter of your recommended daily allowance. Tart cherries and their juice also contain other vitamins and minerals and the beneficial antioxidant compounds kaempferol, quercetin and anthocyanin.
Arthritis Benefits
Antioxidants like quercetin that tart cherry juice contains have similar effects to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, like aspirin and ibuprofen. However, it's the anthocyanins in tart cherry juice may hold special significance for treating the symptoms of arthritis. Arthritic inflammation is caused by an overproduction of enzymes in your body known as Cox-1 and Cox-2. Anthocyanins prevent excess levels of the enzymes, without causing the same stomach upset that NSAIDs do.
Expert Insight
Chinese researchers investigated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of tart-cherry compounds, including the anthocyanin known as cyanidin. In the first study, published by the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2005, cyanidin was given to rats with induced arthritis and shown to significantly reduce inflammation. In the second study, published a year later in the "Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology," arthritic rats were given anthocyanins at doses of 40, 20 and 10 mg per kg of body weight, with the highest doses the most effective. One human trial, reported in the December 2010 issue of "Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports," showed that marathon runners who drank 16 oz. of tart cherry juice recovered muscle strength 10 percent faster and had 33 to 49 percent reduced levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, markers in the blood, which indicate inflammation.
Considerations
Because tart cherry juice hasn't been well studied in humans, either short term or long term, not much information is available about potential side effects. Likewise, there isn't any information about which doses might be helpful, other than the marathoner study where participants drank 16 oz. of tart cherry juice for five days before and two days after a race. Excessive amounts of any fruit or fruit juice can cause diarrhea.
References
- Drugs.com; Sour Cherry; 2009
- "Zhongguo Zhong yao za zhi"; Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Cyanidin from Cherries on Rat Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis; Y.H. He, et al.; October 2005
- "Scandinavian Journal of Rhematology"; Anti-inflammatory and Anti-Oxidative Effects of Cherries on Freund's Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis in Rats; Y.H. He, et al.; Sep-Oct 2006
- "Scandinavian Journal of Sports Medicine"; Influence of Tart Cherry Juice on Indices of Recovery Following Marathon Running; G. Howatson, et al.; December 2010
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Arthritis
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