A study has revealed that gout sufferers eating cherries for a 2 day period exhibited a 35 percent reduced risk of gout attacks in comparison to people who didn’t eat cherries. Prior studies report that there are 8.3 million adult gout sufferers within the U.S., an inflammatory arthritis caused by a crystallization of uric acid inside the joints which causes severe pain and swelling.[1][2]
Although there are lots of gout treatment options available, gout sufferers keep on being burdened by repeated gout attacks, forcing gout patients as well as investigators to get other preventive solutions like eating cherries. Previous research suggests that cherry products have urate reducing effects as well as anti-inflammatory properties, and therefore could have the potential to relieve gout pain. But no study has determined before if eating cherries could reduce risk of gout attacks.
For the current study, researchers recruited 633 gout sufferers who were followed online for 1 year. Patients were questioned about gout onset date, medications, symptoms and risk factors, as well as cherry and cherry extract consumption in the 2 days before the gout attack. One cherry serving was a half cup or 10 – 12 cherries.
Patients had an average age of 54 years, 35% consumed fresh cherries, 2% took cherry extract, and 5% ate both fresh cherries as well as cherry extract. 1,247 gout attacks were documented in the 1 year follow-up period, with 92% happening within the joint in the base of the big toe.
The results show that eating cherries or taking cherry extract reduces the risk of gout attacks. The risk of gout flare carried on decreasing with the increase of cherry consumption, up to 3 servings over 2 days. The study found that further cherry consumption didn’t provide any extra benefit. The protective effect of eating cherries persisted after considering patients’ body mass sex, purine intake, along with use of diuretics, alcohol and anti-gout medications.
