Tart Cherries Offer Arthritic Relief

NEW YORKA new study conducted by Malachy McHugh Ph.D., director of research at the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at Lenox Hill Hospital, and H. Ralph Schumacher of the VA Medical Center and University of Pennsylvania concluded Cheribundi tart cherry juice was effective in symptom relief for patients with arthritis of the knee. 

In the double blind cross-over trial, a group of arthritis patients were given Cheribundi tart cherry juice as well a placebo for individual, six-week periods. Patients who drank two 8-oz. bottles of Cheribundi (tart cherry juice combined with apple juice to decrease tartness) each day for six weeks had improved WOMAC scores and had significantly decreased C-reactive protein (CRP), a systemic inflammatory marker that when decreased,  offers symptom relief.  The same patients drinking the placebo received no symptom relief.