Eating cherries ‘reduces gout risk’
Eating cherries can reduce the risk of gout attacks in people with the disease by more than a third, a study shows.
Scientists observed 633 gout patients for a year and found that cherry consumption over two-day periods affected the likelihood of attacks.
Patients who ate up to three servings of fresh cherries or who ate cherry extract were 35% less at risk than those who avoided cherries.
A serving was defined as one half-cupful, or 10 to 12 cherries.
Previous studies have suggested that chemicals in the fruit reduce blood levels of uric acid.
Gout is caused by uric acid crystallising in the joints, causing excruciating pain and swelling.
When cherry intake was combined with the uric acid-lowering drug allopurinol, gout flare-ups were reduced by 75% compared with having no exposure either to the drug or cherries.
The study was reported in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Lead researcher Professor Yuqing Zhang, from Boston University in the US, said: “Our findings indicate that consuming cherries or cherry extract lowers the risk of gout attack. The gout-flare risk continued to decrease with increasing cherry consumption, up to three servings over two days.”
Eating more than three servings of cherries had no further benefit.
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