6 Promising Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice

It's easy to add cherries to a fruit salad or pop the pitted fruit into a smoothie, but have you ever explored drinking tart cherry juice? While tart cherries are loaded with important nutrients, you'd have to eat an entire bag to obtain all of the benefits you can get simply from drinking the juice alone.

"The research done on tart cherry juice is pretty exciting," Sarah Pflugradt, RD, says. "Its role in muscle recovery from damaging exercise and as an anti-inflammatory food are two of the greatest benefits for athletes.

I love that we can add cherries to the list of anti-inflammatory foods, because inflammation is a huge factor in so many conditions, such as arthritis, diabetes and heart disease. Another major benefit is that tart cherry juice may help improve sleep because both sweet and tart cherries contain melatonin."

​Read more:​ Is It Bad to Eat Fruit Before Bed?

In short, tart cherry juice offers protection against a host of conditions thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties. Read on to find out more about the impressive health benefits of tart cherry juice.

Tart cherries, like all red fruits and vegetables, are rich in anthocyanins — a class of antioxidant phytochemicals, or disease-fighting agents, found in plant-based foods.

Other fruits and vegetables in this class include raspberries, strawberries, beets, cranberries, apples, red onions, kidney beans and red beans. Phytochemicals are what give bright fruits and vegetables their colorful hues. Anthocyanins, in particular, encourage healthy circulation, ensure proper nerve function and may offer cancer-fighting properties.

Drinking anthocyanin-packed tart cherry juice is linked to greater protection against the development of heart disease, cancer and age-related cognitive decline in older adults, according to an October 2009 study published in the ​Journal of Nutrition​.

Plus, the antioxidants in tart cherry juice may have a positive effect on joint pain caused by inflammatory osteoarthritis. Women with osteoarthritis who drank two 10.5-ounce bottles of tart cherry juice daily for 21 days saw a significant reduction in pain and inflammation, according to a study published in a December 2012 issue of the ​Journal of Food Studies​.

​Read more:​ Top 10 Healthiest Fruits and Vegetables

Carcinogens are harmful substances in the air, water and foods that may damage the body's cells, triggering changes that could lead to cancer. Tart cherry juice offers anthocyanins and other disease-fighting chemicals that may be beneficial for halting cell transformation that may lead to cancer.

Cherries are a rich source of anthocyanins, which have been associated with reduced cancer cell proliferation and inhibited tumor formation, according to a December 2004 study in the ​Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology​. What's more, these powerful pigments were observed to reduce the proliferation of human colon cancer cells in a May 2003 ​Cancer Letters​ study.

Two daily cups of tart cherry juice is linked to significantly reduced systolic blood pressure and harmful low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in older adults, due to its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, a January 2019 study published in the journal ​Nutrients​ found.

What's more, tart cherry juice contains quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that's tied to significantly decreased blood pressure, according to a July 2013 study published in the ​International Journal of Preventative Medicine​.

"If you're working out consistently, you might want to consider taking tart cherry juice," says Los Angeles-based nutritionist Kelly Plowe, RD. "Research has shown in both endurance cardio and strength training that tart cherry juice can you recover faster thanks in part to less muscle damage, inflammation and soreness."

In fact, marathon runners who drank tart cherry juice for a few days prior to a marathon and right before a marathon experienced less muscle damage, soreness, inflammation and protein breakdown than runners who didn't sip, according to a December 2010 study in the ​Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports​.

And people who drank just 2 to 3 ounces of tart cherry concentrate (in juice or powdered form) a week to 1.5 hours before exercising significantly improved endurance in cycling, swimming and running, according to a January 2020 meta-analysis in the ​Journal of the American College of Nutrition.​

Still not convinced to forget the Gatorade and sip on cherry juice before your next run? Runners who had 11 to 12 ounces of tart cherry juice twice daily for seven days prior to a long-distance relay and during the race reported significantly less pain following the run than those who consumed a placebo, a 2010 study in the ​Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition​ found. The researchers conclude that tart cherry juice is an effective remedy for muscle pain that doesn't come coupled with the side effects of NSAIDs.

Curious exactly how many calories you burn during your workouts? Download the MyPlate app for a more accurate and customized estimate.

One small study tested the efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in preventing the symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage in male college students. After drinking 12 ounces of cherry juice for eight consecutive days, the participants noticed decreased post-workout pain and strength loss, according to an August 2006 study in the ​British Journal of Sports Medicine.​

Plus, research shows that the juice may be especially beneficial for athletes who have already peaked in training and are looking to improve recovery and return to working out more quickly, according to a 2017 review in ​Current Sports Medicine Reports​.

"Forget the glass of warm milk. I'm a huge fan of tart cherry juice as a natural remedy for sleep," says Plowe. "If you're having trouble falling asleep, a glass of tart cherry juice may do the trick. The fruit is a natural source of melatonin and tryptophan."

When compared to a placebo, drinking tart cherry juice was shown to add 84 minutes of sleep a night for eight people with insomnia aged over 50, according to a 2018 pilot study published in the ​American Journal of Therapeutics​.

The study notes that since insomnia is common among older people and hypnotics, and can increase the risk of falls by more than four-fold, tart cherry juice may provide an effective treatment for sleepless nights without the risky side effects.

​Read more:​ Here's What Servings of 13 Popular Fruits Actually Look Like

Omega-3s shouldn't be the only brain-boosting supplement in your arsenal, according to a July 2019 study in ​Food & Function​. The study observed that adults aged 65 to 73 years who drank two cups of cherry juice for 12 weeks improved their memory.

The researchers chalk these potential effects up to the fruit's polyphenols, anthocyanins and melatonin but acknowledge that further research must be conducted to confirm the findings.