Can tart cherries help reduce inflammation and pain? - WaPo

[question everything]

The question:
Is it true that tart cherries or tart cherry juice can help reduce inflammation and pain?
The science:
Many athletes say they drink tart cherry juice to help with inflammation and muscle pain. Members of the U.S. women’s national soccer team drink it for exercise recovery.

Tart cherries, particularly Montmorency cherries, and their juice contain antioxidants and have anti-inflammatory properties. And studies have shown that tart cherry juice may help prevent muscle damage after excessive or prolonged exercise, reduce pain for some people with fibromyalgia, and decrease inflammation for some people with osteoarthritis.

One randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 54 healthy runners showed that athletes who drank tart cherry juice — one 12-ounce bottle twice daily for seven days before a race — to help prevent pain from muscle exertion had “a significantly smaller increase in pain” than those in the placebo group.

“The equivalency of the pain reduction was … about 800 milligrams of ibuprofen,” said Kerry Kuehl, an internist and chief of health promotion and sports medicine at Oregon Health & Science University, who led the study.

(snip)

The bottom line:
Small studies suggest that when used preventively, tart cherries — more specifically, tart cherry juice — may help with inflammation and muscle damage associated with muscle exertion after strenuous exercise. Experts say, however, that more comprehensive studies are needed.

https://wapo.st/49qOkho

[Scrivener7]

1. Effect equal to 800 mg of ibuprofen is pretty impressive.

[viva la]

2. I used to drink it for swelling and inflammation

I had to dilute it though. Too tart for me!

[Ritabert]

3. My husband swears tart or black cherry juice works...

...for gout and kidney stones which he is prone to.

[summer_in_TX]

6. My dad often dealt with gout.

Once he started drinking tart cherry juice, he got some relief.

[RockRaven]

4. Given the broad history of other nutraceuticals/miracle foods, the future path

of tart cherries/juice is fairly predictable. Time will tell.

[Polly Hennessey]

5. I drink Cheribundi tart cherry 🍒 juice. It seems to help.

I don’t necessarily drink it every day, but often enough.

[CrispyQ]

7. I haven't tried this product specifically, but I've been using two of their other products.

https://hippie-farms.com/products/tart-cherry-supplement

I've been using their beetroot & mushroom products but only for about 2 weeks, so I can't really say yet what I think. My grapeseed extract was out of stock so I tried theirs. They're a little pricey though.

I love their art! The vita-bunch is a cute & clever twist on the Flintstones vitamins.