Health is True Wealth

According to the conclusions of the U.S. Researchers, patients with uric acid (gout) should eat more cherries. This red fruit can reduce the risk of joint inflammation (arthritis) by an excess of uric acid.

In the study, Dr. Yuqing Zhang, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at Boston University and his team recruited 633 gout patients were followed by online for one year. Participants were asked about the date of onset of gout, symptoms, medications and risk factors, including intake of fruit extracts and cherry in the two days before the attacks of gout.

Participants had a mean age 54 years, where 78% of them were male. Most of them take some form of cherry intake: 35% eat fresh cherries, 2% cherry extract consuming, and 5% eating fresh cherries and extract. Researchers documented the 1247 attacks of gout over a period of one year follow-up, where 92% of them occur in the joints at the base of the big toe.

Dr. Zhang explained, our findings suggest that consuming fruit or cherry extracts reduce the risk of gout attacks. The risk of gout flares continued to decrease with an increase in the consumption of cherries, up to three servings for 2 day. But after that, the addition of cherry intake does not provide additional benefit. One serving of cherries equals one half cup or 10 to 12 cherries.

Overall, the chances of gout attacks was reduced by 35 percent. The protective effect could be detected in all patients, regardless of gender, weight or their eating habits.

Scientists consider the consumption of fruit as a good complement to conventional treatment of gout. However, patients should not forget the standard therapy.

Earlier research has shown that cherries can reduce the accumulation of uric acid. However, this is the first study linking the consumption of cherries with a decrease in attacks of gout arthritis.

As is known, the uric acid that accumulates in the joints (usually the big toe) can be crystallized and trigger inflammation that can be very painful. The higher levels of uric acid in the blood, the greater the possibility of efflorescence which causes inflammation of the joints.

Men are more commonly affected by gout than women. The disease is often found in conjunction with other related metabolic syndrome, such as high cholesterol and diabetes.