By Lisa McDowell

When it comes to remedies for gout, the first thing that comes to mind may not be cherries, but they are in fact one of the most popular ‘home remedies’ for helping to treat and prevent gout. In fact, cherries have been considered an effective gout treatment for more than fifty years. It was in the early 1950’s that doctors in Texas began recognizing that regular consumption of cherries, lead to gout symptoms being reduced and increased time between attacks was observed.

It is not yet known whether cherries work for everyone, or whether only certain people can benefit from what cherries can do for the symptoms and attacks. Though many people claim wonderful results, not everyone has had experiences that are equally as promising.

The benefit of the cherry remedies for gout comes from the fact that they contain anthocyanidins, which are a sub-class of flavonoids. These flavonoids work to reduce the levels of uric acid in the body and decrease pain levels. Anthocyanidins are also utilized as an ingredient in many NSAIDs such as aspirin and ibuprofen.

Cherries reduce uric acid levels (vital to treating gout) due to the property of anthocyanidins, which decreases the production of the enzyme, xanthine oxidase, that is crucial to the formation of uric acid. Therefore, the body is not able to produce as much uric acid and so there is less to be accumulated and expelled.

Cherries get their red or black color from their anthocyanidin content. Many other fruits and vegetables also contain this colorful ingredient, however, cherries are high in a specific anthocyanidin called cyanidin. Every 100 grams of cherries contains about 75 milligrams of cyanidin, as well as other anthocyanidins called peonidin and pelargonidin.

A study by Michigan State University showed that anthocyanidins within cherries do indeed inhibit inflammation and pain and help with the expulsion of uric acid, without any side effects. Therefore, they could be a very valuable natural gout treatment.

A smaller study performed by the United States Agricultural Research Service looked specifically at Bing (sweet) cherries. This study showed that five hours after eating 45 of these cherries for breakfast, the following results occurred:

– Uric acid levels in the blood had slightly decreased

– Urate levels (uric acid) in the urine increased significantly

– There was a non-significant impact on inflammation, but it was still considered to be promising.

Overall, what can be counted on when cherries are regularly consumed as a remedy for gout is that uric acid levels in the body will be reduced, therefore increasing the chances of easing the symptoms and occurrence of gout. Since this result is dependent on anthocyanidins, the cherries to look for are those that have the highest anthocyanidin levels.

It is, easy to tell which cherries to choose to treat gout, since the darker the color of cherries (darker red or darker black), the higher they will be in the necessary flavonoids.

There are hundreds of different kinds of cherries, and all of them are considered to be beneficial to treating gout. However, the sweet cherries have higher levels of anthocyanidins than sour/tart ones, the darker colored red and black ones have higher levels than the lighter ones, and the fresher they are, the more effective they are.

In the case of frozen cherries, there are fewer anthocyanidins, so more will need to be consumed for the same level of efficacy. About one half pound (225 grams) of frozen cherries – that’s about 20 cherries – will be required. Cherry juice will also work, as long as only pure black or red cherry juice is selected. Dried cherries also work well as remedies for gout.

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