Cherry Juice For Gout

These cherry juice for gout guidelines explain how cherries in your diet can help you cope with gout.

Cherry Juice For Gout Introduction

Cherries have been recognized as beneficial to gout sufferers for many years, but not without controversy.

Whilst some gout sufferers rely on them, others claim no benefit. Some of this might be due to an unscientific approach, but even the science is unclear. Some studies claim a reduction in uric acid from cherry juice, others claim that cherries only have anti-inflammatory properties.

Until more conclusive scientific evidence is available that relies on data from confirmed gout patients, we are left wondering. Fortunately, cherry juice is widely available, so you can easily try it yourself. If you do, please be sure to share your experience in the gout forum.

I have reviewed several investigations into cherries and cherry juice for gout.

Gout And Cherries History

Though it is generally regarded that Blau started the interest in gout and cherries, I have seen one earlier reference and it implies a much earlier acceptance that cherries are good for gout. Prior to the widespread availability of commercially produced fruit juices, many gout investigators showed interest in different fruits and their effects on gout.

In 1921, Richard Llewellyn Jones Llewellyn wrote in his book, Gout:

Peaches and nectarines, on the other hand, are eminently suitable for the ” gouty,” also apples, pears, oranges, grapes, cherries, etc. […]

Weiss noted that the addition to an ordinary diet of 1 lb, of strawberries, 1 lb. cherries, or 2 lb. of grapes, diminishes the amount of uric acid excreted by almost 50 per cent.

30 years later, Blau published Cherry diet control for gout and arthritis (Texas Reports on Biology and Medicine 1950 Vol. 8 pp. 309-311):

In 12 patients with gout and arthritis the uric acid content of the blood was reduced to normal by the daily consumption of about 1/2 lb. fresh or canned cherries.

The active principle in cherries has not been identified.

Duskis reviews Blau and others in Groceries: How to Use Them for Any Good Reason!: A Compilation with lists of other foods reputed to help gout.

But controversy surrounds the ability of cherries, and other fruits, to lower uric acid.

In 2009, whilst researching the impact of strawberries on human health, Tulipani notes the highly individual effects of strawberries on uric acid, and questions other claims that cherries may reduce uric acid.

Cherries, Cherry Juice & Gout Studies

I am in the process of compiling summaries of the following gout studies about cherries and cherry juice:

Antioxidant and anti inflammatory activities of anthocyanins and their aglycon, cyanidin, from tart cherries. Journal of natural products 1999 May;62(5):802.
Cyclooxygenase inhibitory and antioxidant cyanidin glycosides in cherries and berries. Phytomedicine. 2001 Sep;8(5):362-9.
Jun 2003 Consumption of Cherries Lowers Plasma Urate in Healthy Women
2006 Consumption of Bing Sweet Cherries Lowers Circulating Concentrations of Inflammation Markers in Healthy Men and Women
Feb 2012 Pilot Studies of Cherry Juice Concentrate for Gout Flare Prophylaxis
Sep 2012 Cherry consumption and the risk of recurrent gout attacks.

Please subscribe to my free gout information update service, so I can let you know when I publish the cherry juice and gout studies.

How much Cherry Juice do you drink for Gout?

Cherry Juice Gout Treatment

When deciding if you want to use cherry juice as part of your gout treatment, it is worth noting that you can use any of the different types of cherry juice including:

Fresh Cherries
Tinned or bottled cherries
Cherry juice
Cherry concentrate
Cherry extract

Whilst there is doubt over the true effects of cherry juice for gout, you must be careful how you use cherries in your treatment plan.

It is now the best medical practice to lower uric acid for any gout patient who has:

Two or more attacks in one year
Tophi
Chronic Kidney Disease
History of kidney stones

You might try a daily cherry juice gout treatment to lower uric acid. There is insufficient evidence to recommend how much you should take, or how long it takes to reduce uric acid, if at all. If uric acid is not lowered to 5 mg/dL after 3 months, you should discuss other options with your doctor.

There is stronger evidence that cherry juice relieves or helps avoid painful inflammation. Therefore, a cherry juice gout treatment might be beneficial during the first few months of uric acid lowering therapy.

It is irresponsible to use a cherry juice gout treatment without checking uric acid at least once per month. Once you are sure that uric acid has stabilized at 5 mg/dL (0.30mmol/L) then you can test less frequently, but never less than once per year.

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