Discovering the benefits of drinking cherry juice

In recent years, Northumbria researchers have discovered that drinking a concentrate of Montmorency cherry juice can improve the quality and duration of sleep and that it can help elite athletes to recover after undertaking intense exercise. Now they have discovered that the same substance also reduces the effects of the painful condition gout.

Tart Montmorency cherries are proven to be extremely rich in a number of plant compounds that possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. As such, they have been the focus of numerous studies to assess the health benefits they can bring.

Dr Glyn Howatson, a physiologist in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation who has previously undertaken research into Montmorency cherry concentrate, was keen to test whether its consumption could affect uric acid levels which are known to respond to anti-inflammatory medication.

Gout is an extremely painful condition that occurs when excess uric acid crystallises in the joints. Although uric acid is a naturally-occurring substance found in the body, the condition caused by excess levels can be extremely debilitating for sufferers.

Working with PhD student Phillip Bell, Dr Howatson invited 12 healthy participants to drink either 30ml or 60ml of the cherry concentrate mixed with water and tested how it affected the levels of uric acid in their blood and urine. Just two hours after drinking the cherry concentrate, uric acid levels in urine had increased by around 250%, indicating that it was being prepared to be quickly expelled from the body. Similarly, uric acid levels in blood had decreased by around 36% eight hours after drinking the concentrate.

Dr Howatson explained: “The study shows that uric acid was quickly clearing from the body with lower levels evident following consumption of the Montmorency cherry concentrate. We demonstrated a drop in blood uric acid, an increase in urinary uric acid and a reduction in an inflammation marker in just a few hours.

“This is an exciting first step to applying this intervention to a clinical population that suffers from gout.

“While the condition can be managed with pharmacological agents, more and more people are increasingly reluctant to use them because of potential side effects and are keen to use natural interventions.”

The findings were published in The Journal of Functional Foods and received significant global media coverage.