Me & My Cherries: I had to Know... are they really the Healing Fruit?

July 7, 2004

I had come to a time in my life when my knees began to creak with a painful tweak. Could it be arthritis incurred by all those years of running, cycling, and generally pounding the crap out of my tender knees -- aka the most delicate joints of the body?
I wondered if drinking cherry juice could make the difference as I examined the half-gallon jugs of vaguely purple elixer at Meijer’s, piled high on a palette halfway between the onion bin and the fancy nuts. A write-up next to the jugs claimed that drinking cherry juice (or blueberry juice, for that matter) on a daily basis could help control arthritic pain.
Hmmm... If drinking cherry juice could prevent the pain of arthritis, perhaps it could prevent arthritis itself if you started drinking it at an early enough age, I reasoned.
Drinking cherry juice isn’t for the faint-hearted; and by that I mean you have to pony up about $24 for a half-gallon container of concentrate, good for appoximately 60 servings. So, okay, that’s far less than what you’d pay for 60 Cherry Cokes, 60 cherry wheat beers or 60 glasses of cherry wine. But still, it’s tough to cough up $24 when you know your grocery bill is going to weigh in on the other side of $100.
But with my knees reminding me that time is of the essence, I plunked down my $24 and started drinking a shot of curative cherry juice each night along with my glucosamine and chondroitin supplements.
I drank, and I waited.

CHIPPER CHERRIES
The science of cherries as a curative goes like this, as presented by the chipper Cherry Marketing Institute (CMI) of Lansing.
“The day when doctors say -- ‘Take 10 cherries and call me in the morning’ -- may not be far off,” the CMI claims in its cherry-boosting literature.
What follows is a raft of scientific rigamarole that perhaps only a biochemist or a rheumatologist could verify:
“Current research shows tart cherries contain anthocyanins and biolfavonoids, which inhibit the enzymes Cyclooxgenase -1 and -2 and prevent inflammation in the body,” claims the Cherry Marketing Institute. “These compounds have similar activity as aspirin, naproxen and ibuprofen. Potentially, daily consumption of tart cherries may reduce the pain associated with inflammation, arthritis and gout.”
The cherry marketeers back up their claims with research from MSU:
“Twenty cherries provide 25 milligrams of anthocyanins, which help shut down the enzymes that cause tissue inflammation, according to researchers at the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center at Michigan State University.
“In addition, ongoing research shows that tart cherries are a rich source of powerful antioxidants including kaempferol, quiercetin and melatonin. These compounds are thought to help fight cancer and heart disease.”

MILKSHAKE INSTITUTE
It sounds like a good rap. On the other hand, it’s what one might expect from an outfit that calls itself the Cherry Marketing Institute. No doubt, the Chocolate Milkshake Institute (if there is one) is making similar healthful claims, urging sufferers to slug down chocolate slurpees each day to boost their mucous levels.
How does the average person know, for instance, if other beverages or foods also contain the sort of anthocyanins and biolfavonoids that prevent inflammation in the body? For all we know, ginger ale or red wine are even better than cherry juice.
As the CMI notes in its literature, up to 70 million Americans suffer from some form of joint disease, including arthritis, gout and osteoarthritis. It’s easy to imagine that there’s a lot of money at stake, convincing people with painful joints that cherry juice can do them some good.
Fortunately, there are testimonials.
Marie from Texas claims her life has been a bowl of cherries since she started drinking tart cherry concentrate six weeks ago. “I have enjoyed a great improvement in an arthritic knee and I’m able to sleep peacefully for seven hours,” she notes.
Don from Florida said he had gout so bad he could hardly walk until he started drinking cherry juice. He’s been pain-free for three years now.
And Aggie from Illinois has had fibromyalgia for 12 years. Drinking cherry concentrate “has turned my life around,” she reports... (it) has helped tremendously with the pain.”
Then there’s me, the cherry skeptic who doesn’t trust fruit marketing firms, even though I live in the Cherry Capital of the World.
Call me a skeptic no more. After drinking a glass of cherry concentrate mixed with water each night for two weeks, I noticed that the arthritic pain in my knees was gone.
Was it wishful thinking? The power of mind over matter? Was it the change in seasons from spring to summer? Or was it those marvelous anthocyanins and biolfavonoids percolating in my cherry juice?
I don’t know any of the above, but I do know that I’m sold on the fruity drink. And that I’ll be coughing up my $24 for another half-gallon of cherry concentrate once the last slurp is gone.