Can Eating Cherries Improve your Quality Of Life?

Recent studies have found that cherries are unusually rich in heath-promoting compounds which can trim out tummies, help to prevent heart disease, make exercise easer and even improve our sleep.

In each serving of cherries there is less than 100 calories and half a gram of fat, you have every reason to more cherries. 

Soothes Exercise Pain:

The cherry doesn't look all that powerful but for a long time we have under estimated the power that it has. Dr Kerry Kuehl, a sports medicine specialist at Oregon Health & Science University, studied 55 runners and found those who drank tart cherry juice while trianing for a long-distance run experienced considerably less pain after exercise. 

It has become prominent with long distance runners to take painkillers before training to reduce muscle pain, Dr Kuehl warns these drugs can damage their stomachs in the long term. 

He says tart cherries are high in antioxidant compounds called anthocyanins. These give the fruit their bright colour. He also says they have the power to prevent inflammation and subsequent tissue damage in exhausted muscles. 

Sue Baic, spokeswoman for the British Dietetic Association, says: ‘You need to drink tart cherry juice to get the best effect, but eating cherries will surely give you similar benefits.’

Tackles Arthritis:

Eating Cherries does have benefits as well by eating the tiny fruit it lowers the levels of nitric oxide in your blood. This compound is linked with the development of arthritis. 

A study by the Oregon Health & Science University in 2012 found that women with osteoarthritis who drank tart cherry juice twice daily for three weeks had significantly fewer signs of harmful inflammation in their blood. They also suffered 20 per cent less pain.

The study found that tart cherries have the highest anti inflammatory content of any food.

Sweet cherries have a similar effect because they contain quercetin, a potential antioxidant. 

Cherries can also help reduce attacks of gout, which is a similar auto-immune condition to arthritis. 

A study in the 2012 journal of Arthritis and Rheumatism followed 633 gout patients for a year. Those patients that regularly ate 30 cherries a day cut their risks of attacks by more than a third. 

Helps You Sleep:

Tart Cherries have been found to contain high levels of Melatonin, a hormone that plays a crucial role in making us feel sleepy and stay asleep. 

While many people sleeping problems are annoying more than anything they can also be linked to higher risks of chronic pain, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and a decline in cognitive function. 

In a research project at Northumbria University volunteers were given either tart cherry juice concentrate to drink for a week, or placebo drink.

The cherry juice drinkers saw their total sleep time increase by 25 minute and the quality of their sleep improve by around 6 per cent. 

Urine samples proved that their melatonin levels had also increased significantly. 

Originally they were most interested in the application of tart cherries after strenuous exercise. Sleep forms a critical component of the recovery process. 

Drinking tart cherry juice improves sleep which improves your recovery after strenuous exercise. For a better recovery drink some tart cherry juice. 

Fights Heart Disease:

The abundance of anthocyanin found in cherries may also cut the risk of heart disease. 

The anti-inflammatory chemicals have been found in lab studies to reduce heart-damaging inflammation in the body, as well as reducing harmful fats in the bloodstream. 

Cherry extract recduces an inflammatory chemical called interleukin-6 which is produced by belly fat. This chemical is believed to explain why having a podgy stomach puts you at risk of cardiovascular disease.

Considering all the health improvements cherries can make do you think you will be eating more?