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If you’re thinking tart cherry - CHEERS - let’s first check the facts about its health benefits.
The type of tart cherry taken for health is the Montmorency cherry.
Look inside a friendly senior’s home supply… Tart cherry is is rich source of antioxidants. Lots of people speak sweet about tart:‍
Reasonable experts and users agree - Tart cherry *MIGHT* reduce inflammation, support exercise recovery, and even improve sleep.
You can buy tart cherry juice in most grocery stores. Tart cherry comes bottled as juice or juice concentrate. Or as a capsule with tart cherry powder or extract form in the nutritional supplements aisle.
How can tart cherry be so common, yet so good for you?
🍒 Compare bottles of the best tart cherry juice here!
🍒 Select a bottle of strong tart cherry *concentrate* here!
🍒 Browse daily-dose tart cherry *supplements* here!
🍒 Michiganders find your state’s finest tart cherries for sale here!
Try eating plain or mixing in or cooking with these tart cherry types: frozen tart cherries, canned tart cherries, dehydrated tart cherries.
You can’t count on Meijer or Walmart’s produce section for the fresh tart good stuff. Real natural Montmorency cherries are harvested in the summer, and rare to pick up fresh.
Instead, you find tart cherry “the fruit” available year round frozen then bagged next to other frozen fruits. You find them suction-sealed for lasting freshness in tin-cans down the canned fruit aisle. You find them around raisins and granola dehydrated then bagged dried tart cherries.
But for not-so-young people popping tart cherry for its health benefits, we seek its condensed potent form to reap more of its natural goodness in a smaller dose.
The USDA calls Montmorency tart cherry juice a “Food”, and confirms they’re full of good nutrients and vitamins. Some sour-minded academics from the University of Delaware found evidence that older people at risk for cardiovascular disease can drink tart cherry juice to live healthier.
Try drinking tart cherry juice you buy “already with water” from the store. Fresh pressed tart cherry juice is hard to find, but the “tart cherry concentrate with water added” type of tart cherry is most common in grocery stores next to the cranberry juices, grape juices and such. See the label “from concentrate”.
Tart cherry believers choose tart cherry concentrate. That’s what makes tart cherry different from other juices in my opinion. With tart cherry, health consumers seek the concentrate for more densely-packed Montmorency nutrients. With other juices, the “concentrated from real fruits” label is never preferred over to “made from real fruits without having condensed the fruits” (aside from cost benefit).
Make healthy lifestyle choices with (Montmorency) tart cherry nutritional supplements. Find a safe and reputable processed tart cherry capsules start with good cherries here!
Types of people known to believe in the claimed health benefits of a tart cherry lifestyle include adults, seniors, chronic sufferers of inflammation or joint pain, and muscle-building athletes.
Believed by many to contain anti-inflammatory properties and lotsa antioxidants, some people take tart cherries in capsule or tablet form in the nutritional supplements aisle. People with joint pain and inflammation pop tart cherry to ease chronic discomfort.
Graycare is NOT a doctor. The FDA’s position is tart cherries are NOT a drug. Back around 2005, the FDA cracked down on tart cherry marketers claiming drug-like health benefits very similar to those I’m talking about today. They aren’t so strict on tart cherry anymore, or most sellers of this coveted sour elixir have smartened up to put the needed product disclaimers and such.Â
Still, I responsibly take tart cherry pills (or uric acid formula that contains tart cherry) to manage inflammatory symptoms I personally associate with my own history of gout flares. Before I thumb-flick a tart cherry capsule into my mouth and swallow it down with drinking water, I do everything in my power to prevent.
*PREVENTION as practiced by me: First diet and exercise. Also sleep and stretching. Then turn to that grimacing-sour condensed Montmorency when my proactive lifestyle habits haven’t been enough to curb the finger, toe, and leg sensations like bubbling and numbness which I associate with risk of gout coming to my left big toe soon.
One thing is for sure - It’s NOT healthy to binge concentrated or extracted types of tart cherry. In my case, I have to remember not to use tart cherry to stop a gout attack that’s already flaring in wrought misery. Please don’t go pill popping tart cherry and binge drinking shots of tart cherry concentrate when you’re wanting immediate symptom relief caused by poor lifestyle choices.
Some adult and senior athletes down sour-tasting cherry or these taste-less tart cherry supplements due to a belief it helps recover sore muscles nicely after a hefty workout. 2023 researchers from the unofficial “School of Sour” continue to publish evidence tart cherry might benefit muscle recovery and sports performance.
Thinking tart cherries naturally contain melatonin is another reason nutritionist businesspeople have made profit by selling ground extract or hyper-concentrated tart cherry to encourage sleep.
Please consult a doctor if you have some ideas about tart cherry in your diet. Just 5 years ago, one study of sleep-challenged older adults in America concluded evidence that cherry juice increases the duration and improves the quality of sleep in certain seniors with reported insomnia.
If you buy tart cherry without consulting a doctor, be sure to follow the instructions on the label - and don’t take more tart cherry than is recommended on the label.
The closer to science your keep your tart cherry know-how, the better. Cheers to you in tartness and in health.
⚖️ CLAIM: Tart cherry is good for arthritis. [...]
⚖️ FACT: Tart cherry impacts the body’s uric acid and reduces certain markers of inflammation (hsCRP), previously proposed to be useful in managing pathological conditions such as gouty arthritis. Read 2014 Research.
⚖️CLAIM: The anthocyanins in tart cherry are good for you. [...]
⚖️FACT: Anthocyanins in tart cherry provide many health benefits, including anti-viral, anti-cancer, and anti-inflammatory properties. Read 2018 Research.
⚖️CLAIM: Tart cherry is high in antioxidants. [...]
⚖️FACT: Cherries are a rich source of polyphenols and vitamin C which have antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties.” Read 2018 Research.
⚖️CLAIM: Tart cherry is good for sore muscles. [...]
⚖️FACT: Some recent studies found tart cherry juice did not make a significant impact on tart cherry chugging athletes’ next-day soreness. Read 2016 Research.
⚖️CLAIM: Tart cherry is good for sleep. [...]
⚖️FACT: One study observed seniors with trouble sleeping who drink tart cherry juice enjoy almost 1.5 hours of sleep. Read 2018 Research.
⚖️CLAIM: Tart cherry supplements are good for you. [...]
⚖️FACT: One startlingly recent study found taking tart cherry supplements did not impact inflammation or glucose regulation (a.k.a. These Modern Doctors Say Tart Cherry Does Nothing.). Read 2021 Research.
When a friend tells you its tart or nothing to solve your health problems, you can stay skeptical! You have full right to harbor doubts wild tart cherries claims from friends who haven't read this.
The stereotypical tart cherry consumer is an adult with at least a bit of gray hair, but adults of all ages derive motivation to consume the sour and sticky again and again. But… How Smart Is Tart, Really? Tart cherry is a lifestyle choice, part of good habits and balanced nutrition.
Those who put natural prevention first might wash a few cherries and set out a bowl for the family. They might also make concentrated effort to nab the most local natural condensed version, the closer to farm and less processed the better. (When they have kids and turn into health-conscious and hip parents, tart cherry comes into shopping carts in family-friendly bulk sizes or member-specific formulas like gummies for kids or different blends which contain tart cherry.
Devoted to the most viscous of concentrated Montmorency; known to seek the purest doses of tart cherry relief. They’ll stop at nothing to avoid another excruciating flare in their knee, ankle, or toe.
Most of us try to keep our cherry popping within state borders. We’re tryin to learn our lesson from when California found our water, or when Utah re-planted our heritage Michigan Montmorency seeds. Here in the pinky-side of the mitten, grandparents and grandchildren have shared tart cherries and passed down their secrets for generations. (HINT: This Michigander rant contains playful embellishment for readers' entertainment and Michigan state pride.)
What’s not to love about Montmorency tart cherry? I think Montmorency cherries and their derivative products are “generally safe for most adults to try”.
My personal experiences with tart cherry juice, stronger cherry juice concentrate, strait tart cherry supplements, as well as uric acid formula supplements which contain tart cherry - My personal experience as a gout sufferer and natural preventative health believer is: (1) I Drink The Dankest Michigan Montmorency Concentrate Cut 50/50 With Water Some Times Per Week, and (2) I Take Nutritional Supplements Which Contain Tart Cherry Extract Some Times Per Week, while (3) This Sticky Tart Health Choice Is Well Supported By Balanced Regular Diet And Exercise. I remind you friend, Graycare is NOT a doctor.
