Academic Journal
Main Category: Gout
Also Included In: Nutrition / Diet; Arthritis / Rheumatology
Article Date: 30 Sep 2012 - 0:00 PDT
Current ratings for:
Eating Cherries Lowers Your Gout Attack Risk
| Patient / Public: |  |
|
| Healthcare Prof: | | 3.6 (5 votes) |
| Article opinions: | 3 posts |
Eating cherries over a two-day period reduced the risk of gout attacks by 35%, according to a new study led by Boston University (BU) in the US that is being published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism.
Lead author Yuqing Zhang, Professor of Medicine and Public Health at BU, says in a press statement:
"Our findings indicate that consuming cherries or cherry extract lowers the risk of gout attack."
Estimates suggest about 8.3 million adults in the US have gout, an inflammatory arthritis that occurs when uric acid crystals form in the joints, causing great pain and swelling.
There are several standard treatments, but with these gout attacks tend to re-occur, so researchers and patients are on the look-out for alternatives. Cherries have been mentioned as having urate-lowering and inflammation-reducing properties, but there have been no rigorous studies of whether they can reduce the risk of gout attacks.
For their case-crossover study, Zhang and colleagues recruited 633 people with gout and followed them online for a year. 88% of participants were white, had an average age of 54, and 78% of them were male. They answered questions about gout onset, symptoms, risk factors, medications, and whether they ate cherries or took cherry extract, and for how long.
Consuming cherries or cherry extract may lower your risk of developing a gout attack by 35%.
When they analyzed the participant responses, they found of those who had eaten cherries in one form or another, 35% ate fresh cherries, 2% took cherry extract, and 5% consumed both.
They also counted 1,247 gout attacks over the one-year follow-up, 92% of which were in the joint at the base of the big toe.
They compared the cherry consumption against the gout attack incidence, and found those participants who ate cherries for two days, had a 35% lower risk of gout attacks or flares compared to participants who did not have them at all.
They also found that the threat of gout flares fell by as much as 75% when cherry intake was combine with allopurinol, a drug that lowers uric acid levels, compared to not taking the drug or having the cherries.
These benefits persisted even after taking into account factors that can affect gout risk, such as gender, obesity (BMI), purine intake (in foods that can increase gout risk), plus use of alcohol, diuretics and anti-gout medications.
Zhang says:
"The gout flare risk continued to decrease with increasing cherry consumption, up to three servings over two days."
He and his colleagues found cherry intakes above this number of servings did not give any additional benefit.
In an accompanying editorial, Allan Gelber from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and Daniel Solomon from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University Medical School in Boston, say the study is significant because it looks at diet and the risk of gout flares recurring.
But while these findings are promising, they urge patients who currently suffer from gout not to "abandon standard therapies".
They agree with the study authors that further randomized clinical trials should now be done to confirm the findings.
As does Alan Silman, professor and medical director of Arthritis Research UK.
He says in a press statement from the charity that he welcomes the findings, because for some time there has been talk of fruits like cherries being of benefit to people with gout and rheumatoid arthritis, both of which occur with chronic inflammation.
The study shows good evidence that perhaps cherries, together with traditional drugs that reduce uric acid, could significantly lower the risk of painful gout attacks, and, "it has been suggested that antioxidant compounds found in cherries may be natural inhibitors of enzymes which are targeted by common anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen" says Silman.
"Eating cherries, in fact, is not dissimilar to taking ibuprofen on a daily basis. However, we'd like to see additional clinical trials to further investigate and provide confirmation of this effect," he adds.
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
MLA
n.p. "Eating Cherries Lowers Your Gout Attack Risk." Medical News Today. MediLexicon, Intl., 30 Sep. 2012. Web.
7 Oct. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/250862.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/250862.php.
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
Visitor Opinions (latest shown first)
Cherries and gout
posted by Stephen Ryan on 4 Oct 2012 at 9:09 pmI can attest to the validity of this study. I have been drinking Manhattans for many decades and I have never had the smallest tinge of gout.
A Natural Gout Cure… Cherries
posted by secret on 30 Sep 2012 at 6:53 amYou're right...cherries! By using an assortment of simple natural remedies like cherries, baking soda, or common herbs, you may never have to deal with another gout attack again.
Cherries Yes, Drugs No
posted by Su Su on 29 Sep 2012 at 6:27 amTart cherry juice is also very helpful with RA pain. It takes about a month but I have seen it eliminate the pain. This is a great idea with gout, but why not try it without any traditional drugs?
Add Your Opinion On This Article
'Eating Cherries Lowers Your Gout Attack Risk'Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.
All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment