Red Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate
A daily glass of Tart Cherry Juice can help reduce or eliminate the pain caused by arthritis, gout, fibromyalgia, migraine headaches or joint inflammation.
Research Reveals the Healing Fruit
(from the Cherry Marketing Institute)
Cherries have pleased the palates of food lovers for centuries. Now there are news reasons to love cherries. As a recent Newsweek article said "The day when doctors say -"Take 10 cherries and call me in the morning"-may not be far off.
According to ongoing research, cherries are a rich source of antioxidants that can help fight cancer and heart disease. In addition, they contain compounds that help relieve the pain of arthritis, gout and even headaches.
The secret is in the pigments that give cherries their right red hue. They belong to a class of natural dyes called anthocyanins. These compounds are being called "Mother Nature's all-natural chemotherapy agents."
In addition to the antioxidants, cherries are rich in two important flavonoids-isoqueritrin and queritrin. According to leading researchers queritrin is one of the most potent anticancer agents ever discovered. Consuming it in foods, such as cherries, is like unleashing inside your body an entire army of James Bond-type agents who are adept at neutralizing cancer-causing agents.
The University of Texas Health Science Center recently began to quantify the availability and activity of the melatonin in cherry products. Melatonin is a potent antioxidant for which there is extensive evidence showing it to be significant in improving the body's circadian rhythms and natural sleep patents. Melatonin is rapidly absorbed by the body, and it is predicted that eating just a handful of cherries will increase melatonin levels in the blood, thereby improving the body's natural sleep patterns.
Researchers at Michigan State University were among the first to identify the presence of three powerful anthocyanins in tart cherries with the potential to inhibit the growth of colon cancer tumors. Tart cherries contain anthocyanins and bioflavonoids, which inhibit the enzymes Cyclooxygenase-1 and -2, and prevent inflammation in the body. These compounds have similar activity as aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen. Further investigations revealed that daily consumption of tart cherries has the potential to reduce the pain associated with inflammation, arthritis and gout. Many middle-aged and elderly consumers are choosing to drink cherry juice rather than take over-the-counter medication to stave off the pain of arthritis and gout.
"Twenty cherries provide 25 milligrams of anthocyanins, which help to shut down the enzymes that cause tissue inflammation in the first place, so cherries can prevent many kinds of pain," says Muraleedharan Nair, the lead researcher on the cherry project at Michigan State University. The anthocyanins also may protect artery walls from the damage that leads to plaque build up and heart disease. In fact, the latest research shows that anthocyanins do a better job of protecting arteries than Vitamins C and E.
