The information in this article is not intended as health advice. Consult with your doctor or a medical professional and follow safety instructions before beginning an exercise program or using a Dietary Supplement if you are undergoing treatment or on medication or have a medical condition.
Gout sufferers will be all too familiar with the debilitating pain of a flare-up and the frustration of being wrenched out of daily life.
Fortunately, there are plenty of treatment options to keep the pain at bay, depending on the severity of your particular case.
One of those is tart cherry.
And that’s not just as an alternative medicine!
In fact, gout sufferers have been using tart cherry as a therapeutic aid for decades, thanks to its natural ability to significantly lower uric acid and reduce gout flares.
We sat down for a quick Q&A with For Wellness adviser and naturopathic doctor Siobhan Hanlon to learn more!*
FW: Thanks for catching up with us, Dr Hanlon! First things first, what is gout?
Gout is a form of arthritis caused by the build-up of uric acid in the body.
It's really influenced by inflammation in the body, diet, and things like that, which create the inflammation.
FW: Why do gout patients turn to tart cherry? Why is it so special?
Tart cherry has the ability to lower serum uric acid levels.
There are some conflicting studies: some studies say it does a little bit, others say it does significantly, but in one study, what they found was that people with gout who drank eight ounces of tart cherry juice a day over a four-month period had a decrease in flares.
Researchers then thought maybe there's another mechanism besides just lowering uric acid, and they found that they were able to see a decrease in serum biomarkers for specific interleukins in gout patients. Interleukins are like markers or cells that increase during certain inflammatory responses. So they think that the tart cherry decreases interleukins and also uric acid.
FW: So does tart cherry just treat the symptoms, or can you eliminate gout?
You could essentially get rid of gout by decreasing that uric acid and keeping that down, but it’s not a ‘cure’ in that sense. I have my dad do tart cherry shots every day, and that keeps his gout away! It’s more of a management tool.
FW: Of course, people shouldn’t ignore their medicine or the advice of their doctor. How might tart cherry fit into a gout management plan?
Absolutely, I would never tell somebody to stop the medication that a doctor has prescribed.
But some people only use, for example, allopurinol during a gout flare to bring it down, and then they come off of it. What you can do is use your medications during a flare with the tart cherry to bring it down, and then do maintenance for keeping it at bay by using tart cherry every day.
It’s also worth decreasing inflammatory foods, like meat and sugar.
Dehydration is also really huge - people need to drink at least half their body weight in ounces of water each day and then decrease acidic foods.
FW: As you know, one of our most popular products is our tart cherry Recovery Gummies™. Each serving contains 480mg of VitaCherry® Sport, or the equivalent of 2400mg of fresh, tart cherry. Could they be worth trying for gout patients?
I think tart cherry and tart cherry gummies are just a really easy, tasty way to keep something that's very painful at bay without having to take harsh medications.
Anything that's natural that can help - I love.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Use only as directed. The information provided in this page is intended for your general knowledge and information purposes only and is not a substitute for a medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. Consult with your doctor or a medical professional and follow safety instructions before beginning an exercise program or using a Dietary Supplement if you are undergoing treatment or on medication or have a medical condition.
