3 reasons why cherries are good for gout – Cherries have long been considered the best all-natural treatments for gout. However, is there any proof of this?
The USFDA is very picky about people saying they have the cure for whatever ails you and can come down hard on websites that push this idea.
So, are cherries good for gout, and do they cure it? Yes and no. Yes, cherries are beneficial for this malady. In fact, the U.S. government has tested this through one of its own research groups.
They are not considered a cure for gout in the sense that the word “cure” is looked upon as saying you can totally be healed from any further occurrences of the disease.
Many physicians and scientists feel you cannot cure gout. You can only treat it. So now, why are cherries good for gout?
The main gout symptom you will encounter when having an attack is inflammation. Because of this, the ARS, or Agricultural Research Service, did a study on the effects that cherries had on inflammation. They found three benefits of using cherries for gout.
1. Eating cherries can lower nitric oxide gout levels
If left untreated, gout can leave terrible joint disfigurement. Experts believe this is caused by nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is usually higher when a person is experiencing inflammation. They have found this in arthritis patient studies.
When gout patients who were having attacks were tested for this biochemical, very high levels were also found.
The study the ARS performed showed that after eating cherries, these levels decreased. They did not decrease as much as they had hoped, but it was an encouraging sign.
2. Eating cherries can lower CRP
Inflammation, or swelling, also increases C-reactive protein in the body. This protein is produced by the liver and is often referred to as CRP. This same study showing nitric oxide levels decreased also showed CRP decreased after gout patients ate cherries.
Again, like the previous marker, it did not decrease as much as they had hoped, but it was a step in the right direction.
3. Eating cherries can lower uric acid levels
The third marker they were looking at was blood urate levels. This, in simple terms, is uric acid. Too much uric acid is the underlying cause of gout.
When uric acid gets out of hand, it causes swelling in the joint as the body tries to fix the damage the uric acid is causing but instead causes great pain for the patient.
The ARS found that when patients ate cherries, bing cherries were used for the study, and their uric acid levels decreased significantly for up to five hours.
The patients also were able to excrete more uric acid in their urine during these five hours. This is crucial in order for gout patients to be able to successfully get rid of a gout attack.
Cherries have been shown to not only reduce uric acid levels but also to reduce inflammation markers such as nitric oxide, which damages joints and C-reactive protein. These are reasons enough why cherries are good for gout pain
