Study: Eating 10 Cherries a Day Can Cut Your Gout ATTACK Risk in Half

Approximately 8 million Americans are effected by gout every year. It causes pain and limits movement, and treatment for gout often involves taking a variety of side-effect inducing medications. Thankfully, there is a natural remedy for gout pain that is easily available and tastes delicious. But before I talk about the cure, lets take a deeper look at gout and what causes it.

What is Gout?

Gout is actually a form of arthritis that commonly effects the big toe. It usually causes a large swelling on the side of a big toe which can balloon to the size of a golf ball. This swelling causes an intense burning pain and stiffness, which limits mobility. If gout is left untreated, over time it can cause harm to your joints, tendons and other tissue.

Gout is caused by having too much uric acid in your blood. When your body’s level of uric acid reaches a certain point it forms hard crystals in your joints. This is what causes the swelling and pain that is associated with gout. You can reduce the amount of uric acid in your blood by staying away from foods containing purines. These are organic compounds found in certain foods and drinks that produce uric acid when they are digested. Some of these foods and drinks include: Liver, anchovies, mackerel, dried beans, peas and beer.

The most common signs of gout is swelling, tenderness, redness and a sharp pain in your big toe. However, gout can effect other joints in your body such as your foot, ankle, or knees. Attacks caused by gout can last either a few days or many weeks before the pain goes away. Attacks may be separated by a few months or even years at a time.

What is Typical Gout Treatment?

Typical treatment for gout often includes the use of a variety of different anti-inflammatory and pain relieving drugs. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used for treating gout. These can range from over the counter ones, such as Advil and Aleve, to stronger prescription ones, such as Indocin or Celebrex. Other common drugs used to treat gout include Colchicine, a painkiller and Corticosteroids, a steroidal anti-inflammatory and pain reliever.

Despite the fact that these are the most common forms of gout treatment available, the effectiveness of many of these drugs are reduced to their intense side effects. These include:

Stomach pain
Bleeding

Ulcers
Nausea
Vomiting

Diarrhea
Mood changes
High blood sugar

High blood pressure

Even if these drugs did help get rid of the gout, the person taking them would undoubtedly have to find a cure for all of the health problems that would occur because of them.

Eat Cherries to Treat Gout

Yup the secret ingredient to fighting gout is cherries. There have been multiple trials conducted on cherry’s effects on pain caused by gout and also the amount of uric acid in the blood, and many of them have come up with similar results. In multiple studies eating cherries has been associated with lower levels of uric acid and a reduced number of gout attacks.

One study conducted at the Boston University Medical Center that consisted of 633 participants found that eating 10 cherries a day prevents people with existing gout from suffering further attacks. According to the study co-author Hyon K. Choi, eating 10 cherries a day was able to cut the risk of having a gout attack in half.

“Cherry intake was associated with a 50 percent lower risk of gout flares over a 48-hour period,” Choi said. “We extrapolate that cherries will continue to work long-term.”

This means that if you want to prevent gout and the pain that comes with it, all you have to do is eat 10 cherries a day, or drink an equivalent amount of fresh cherry juice (which shouldn’t be more than a cup and a half). Other studies have also associated higher amounts of cherry intake with a reduction in gout, so if you feel like having more than 10 a day feel free!

Let us know how cherries have effected your gout condition in the comments.