Tart cherry juice may not suit all palates, because it comes with a tart taste. But it comes with a multitude of health benefits worth noting. It is best to get a tart cherry juice with the least amount of sugars and zero added sugars when possible. That will give you more health benefits overall.
This power fruit is a superfood because it is rich in essential nutrients like iron, potassium, magnesium, and more. It is also full of vitamins C, A, E, as well as heart-healthy antioxidants.
Tart cherry juice is a staple to many people’s diets for a good reason. It can help to boost muscle health, heart health, and much more. Athletes are especially fond of tart cherry juice because it has multiple benefits that target muscle health.
Table of Contents
- Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice
- 1. Contains Anti-Inflammatory Antioxidants
- 2. It Can Help with Muscle Soreness
- 3. It Can Help Diminish Symptoms of Gout
- 4. It May Boost Your Immune System
- 5. It May Improve Your Vision
- 6. It May Help with Cognitive Functioning
- 7. It Can Improve Sleep Quality
- 8. It Can Improve Symptoms of Osteoporosis
- 9. It Can Improve Arthritis Symptoms
- Conclusion
Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice
Tart cherry juice can be a powerful addition to many diets to decrease inflammation, add in some vital nutrients, and much more.
Find out the many health benefits of tart cherry juice below and see where you can add this superfood drink to your routine.
1. Contains Anti-Inflammatory Antioxidants
Antioxidants are necessary to reduce oxidative stress buildup in the body. Everyone needs their fair share of antioxidants to make sure inflammation does not reach an unhealthy upper limit.
Adding some tart cherry juice to your diet more often is a great way to make sure you get enough heart-healthy antioxidants into your body for optimal functioning.
Antioxidants are especially important to keep a healthy heart. Add some tart cherry juice to your diet to see if this can improve your heart health. Tart cherry juice even comes in supplement form if you do not like the taste. Ask your doctor if a supplement may help you.
2. It Can Help with Muscle Soreness
Muscle soreness is most common among athletes or anyone who enjoys high-intensity exercises. And tart cherry juice can help diminish sore muscles. That is why athletes often add tart cherry juice to their diets.
Cherries may be highly effective at diminishing muscle soreness, but tart cherry juice is an often-easier way to reap the benefits.
In one study in the National Institute of Health, marathon runners recovered faster when eating cherries compared to those who did not (1).
Are you doing daily High-intensity interval training (HIIT)? HITT can deplete your levels of magnesium, so replenishing it is helpful and necessary. The great news is cherries contain magnesium, too.
If you are about to get in an intense workout, try to add some cherries or tart cherry juice to reduce muscle soreness and recover faster.
3. It Can Help Diminish Symptoms of Gout
Gout is a condition that occurs when there is too much uric acid in the body, which then deposits into the joints. Gout typically affects the feet, specifically the big toe, causing redness, swelling, and joint pain.
There are many natural alternatives to help diminish symptoms of gout, and tart cherry juice is one. The antioxidant properties in cherries are a reason why cherries can relieve symptoms of gout (2).
Poor dietary concerns are also a contributor that can aggravate symptoms of gout. Be sure to keep your diet as healthy as can be and eliminate inflammatory foods that are processed and lack nutrients.
4. It May Boost Your Immune System
Many different healthy foods, especially fruits, can help to boost the immune system overall, and cherries are a part of that category. That is because cherries pack in a ton of vitamin C.
Just one cup of cherries contains 15.5 mg of vitamin C. Cherries are also high in potassium, manganese, fiber, vitamin A, magnesium, and more. All these nutrients are also essential to keep your immune system resilient and healthy.
Cherries are also naturally high in folate, which is an essential B vitamin and a common vitamin deficiency. Pack in some more nutrition and keep your immune system thriving with the many health benefits of cherries or tart cherry juice.
Tart cherry juice is a convenient way for many to get in more nutrients, boosting your immune system at the same time.
5. It May Improve Your Vision
You need a fair amount of nutrients to have excellent vision and keep it for the long-term. Although genetics is also a factor, many nutrients can help to diminish age-related macular degeneration and other eye-related diseases.
Cherries are very high in vitamin A, which is one of the most vital nutrients to improve and maintain vision health. Just one cup of cherries contains nearly 2,000 IU of vitamin A. The daily recommended intake of vitamin A is between 2300 mcg and 3,000 mcg per day.
Eating just one cup of cherries can help you get a significant amount of vitamin A to complete your nutrient intake.
Many other nutrients can also be helpful to attain better vision, such as lutein, vitamin C, and more. Cherries also contain vitamin C, which can give you an extra boost at maintaining good eyesight. Be sure to grab some cherries or tart cherry juice today to reap this benefit.
6. It May Help with Cognitive Functioning
Are you feeling like you have a hard time concentrating or struggling to remember where your keys are in the morning? It may be time to give your brain a boost with some necessary nutrition. The brain needs many nutrients to maintain cognitive functioning.
Cherries contain many essential nutrients that help to improve brain health and especially memory. Tart cherries contain more benefits, especially in this area.
One study shows that there was less inflammation in the hippocampus with rats who had tart cherries (3). The hippocampus is the part of the brain that controls short and long-term memory.
Furthermore, rats fed a tart-cherry diet showed to have better spatial controlled memory than rats in the control group. Although more research is necessary, there may be a link between cognitive function and tart cherry juice.
7. It Can Improve Sleep Quality
Tart cherry juice can even improve sleep quality. Sleep issues like insomnia, waking up frequently in the middle of the night, and more, affect millions of people around the globe.
While many factors affect sleep quality, improving your dietary needs is a great start. You can start by adding some tart cherry juice to your routine.
The number one reason tart cherries can help with sleep is that they contain a significant amount of melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that releases before bedtime. But many common factors can contribute to lowering melatonin release. One reason is high-stress levels. That is because high stress increases cortisol levels, and cortisol and melatonin compete.
Melatonin is a popular sleep aid in the pill form as well. Although melatonin in pill form can become habit-forming, so it is not always wise to use it every night (4). Melatonin supplements in excess can also cause harmful side effects, such as nausea. See if adding some natural melatonin in the form of food such as tart cherries instead.
8. It Can Improve Symptoms of Osteoporosis
One of the top reasons tart cherry juice can help is with symptoms of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis typically occurs at an older age and affects bone health. The body loses too much bone, causing back pain and more.
Tart cherry juice can not only improve symptoms associated with osteoporosis, but it can even prevent osteoporosis as well. Some studies show that tart cherry juice can prevent bone loss in mice (5).
Be sure to see if adding some tart cherry juice can help you or someone you know with osteoporosis.
9. It Can Improve Arthritis Symptoms
Tart cherries and cherry juice benefit many areas of the body by providing many nutrients and decreasing inflammation. All diseases occur from too much inflammation in the body.
Tart cherries can create anti-arthritic benefits by providing essential nutrients and anti-inflammatory antioxidants. Arthritis happens from a buildup of uric acid in the body, similar to gout. In one study, 100 percent of tart cherry juice reduced levels of uric acid in overweight and obese adults (6).
Tart cherry juice can have many health benefits to protect against arthritis and relieve the common symptoms of it as well.
Conclusion
Many factors contribute to improving your overall health, including exercise, dietary concerns, emotional wellness, and much more. But tart cherry juice can be helpful in many areas of your health.
Tart cherry juice can help with working memory, improving symptoms related to arthritis, improve muscle recovery, and much more.
If you like the taste of 100 percent tart cherry juice, see if you can add some to your diet, and reap some of these potential health benefits. Always choose tart cherry juice that is not from concentrate and has no added sugar to get the most health advantages.
Always speak with your doctor if you want to add tart cherry supplements to your diet, especially if you are already taking medication.