MIRACLE CURE FOR GOUT AND ARTHRITIS PAIN? SIX CHERRIES A DAY: PART I.

Miracle Cure for Gout and Arthritis Pain? Six Cherries a Day

Tuesday, April 21, 2009
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)

(NaturalNews) I bet the big drug companies wish they had invented cherries -- they've proven to be the most powerful medicine in the world for eliminating gout and reducing the pain and inflammation of arthritis. Cherries are such powerful medicine for gout and arthritis, in fact, the FDA went out of its way to try to muzzle cherry growers, preventing them from linking to scientific studies on cherries as a way to censor the information you're about to read here.

If the public finds out the truth about cherries, after all, they won't need arthritis drugs anymore (and Big Pharma will lose billions in profits). As you'll see in the collection of quotes about cherries, gout and arthritis (below), cherries are extremely safe, effective and fast-acting for eliminating swelling and pain. Eating just a few cherries a day keeps uric acid levels in check, preventing any recurrence of gout.

What's a good source for cherries? In addition to buying local organic cherries at natural grocers near you, you can also get cherry concentrates and cherry extracts from a variety of companies. As it turns out, even cooked cherry juice does the trick just as well as raw cherries!

My top recommended sources for cherry products include Brownwood Acres / www.FruitFast.com (which offers an amazing array of fruit concentrate bars and capsules) and www.Vitacost.com (which offers various cherry extract products). See search results here: http://www.vitacost.com/productResu...

No, I don't have any financial ties with these companies. I just recommend their products. The FruitFast company, in fact, offers fruit softgel capsules, bars, liquids, concentrates and premium dried fruit, too, so you can always have cherries with you (even when traveling!). They've even introduced CherryFlex for dogs! http://www.brownwoodacres.com/pet_p...

The Bear Fruit Bar (www.MorFoods.com) is also a great source of not only cherry concentrates, but other potent fruits as well.

If you suffer from gout or arthritis, you owe it to yourself to try the therapeutic use of cherries.

The FDA, of course, says cherries aren't medicine. The FDA is lying to you! (And they know it.) Cherries ARE medicine, and it's medicine that's safer, more effective and far more affordable than Big Pharma's toxic patented chemicals. Cherries are medicine that grows on trees.

The entire pharmaceutical cartel hopes you never find out the truth about cherries. They're depending on your ignorance to keep their profits flowing. Don't let 'em sucker you into taking expensive, dangerous medications when cherries might be all you really need! Try cherries (or cherry concentrate products) first, for at least 30 days. And when your pain vanishes, you can send a thank-you email to Mother Nature for providing this natural medicine to the world.

Read the quotes below to learn astonishing facts about cherries and gout...

Authors' Quotes on Cherries and Gout
Below, you'll find selected quotes from noted authors on the subject of Cherries and Gout. Feel free to quote these in your own work provided you give proper credit to both the original author quoted here and this NaturalNews page.

No attacks of gouty arthritis occurred on a nonrestricted diet in all cases, as a result of eating about one-half pound of fresh or canned cherries per day. One doctor said: A patient of mine had heard about cherries for gout. He was, in fact, a sufferer of gout himself. He decided to give the cherry therapy a try. After following this patient's progress over the past two months, I can only say the results have been nothing less than spectacular. The patient has ceased taking the prescribed medication for his gout and has an unlimited diet. This alone should make any gout sufferer take notice.
- Rapid Healing Foods by Ben Davis
- Available on Amazon.com

He described how he had cured his crippling gout, which had confined him to a wheelchair, by eating six to eight cherries every day. Continuing to eat cherries, he claimed, kept painful gout away. He also cited twelve others who had cured their gout by eating cherries or drinking cherry juice. Soon afterward Prevention Magazine added to the mystery and mystique by publishing Dr. Blau's advice to use cherries as gout medicine.
- Miracle Cures: Dramatic New Scientific Discoveries Revealing the Healing Powers of Herbs, Vitamins, and Other Natural Remedies by Jean Carper
- Available on Amazon.com

For those with gout, life is just a bowl of cherries. Really, substances in cherries called anthocyanocides, are very effective at lowering uric acid levels, says Walter Crinnion, N.D., a naturopathic doctor and director of Healing Naturally in Kirkland, Washington. How many cherries should you eat? According to traditional healing lore and very preliminary research, eating anywhere from 1/2 cup to 1 pound (about 70) of cherries a day may help people with gout, says Laurie Aesoph, N.D., a naturopathic doctor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
- Alternative Cures: The Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems by Bill Gottlieb
- Available on Amazon.com

One morning he read a news item about the use of cherries for gout, and since there were some sour cherries in the freezer, he began eating a dessert dish of them at lunch and dinner. The swelling in his knee went down, and the stiffness was gone in three days. He continued eating two dishes of the cherries daily and has had no further attacks of gout in over a year.
- Miracle Medicine Herbs (Reward Books) by Richard Melvin Lucas
- Available on Amazon.com

In a 1950 study, 12 patients with gout ingested one-half pound of cherries per day (or an equivalent amount of cherry juice), with no other dietary restrictions. In all 12 cases, serum uric-acid levels fell to normal, and the patients had no further attacks of gout. Cherry juice appeared to be as effective as whole cherries. While most of the results were obtained with black cherries, sweet yellow and red sour cherries were also effective. We have been impressed by the effectiveness of cherry juice as a treatment for acute gout.
- Natural Medicine, Optimal Wellness: The Patient's Guide to Health and Healing by Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. and Alan R. Gaby, M.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Physicians prescribed cherries for epilepsy. In the 1920s in the United States, physicians touted black cherries to cure kidney stones and gall bladder ailments, and red cherries to remove phlegm. In 1950 Ludwig Blau, Ph.D., writing in Texas Reports on Biology and Medicine, claimed that he cured his crippling gout that confined him to a wheelchair by eating six to eight cherries each day. As long as he ate cherries, he avowed, the gout stayed away.
- The Food Pharmacy: Dramatic New Evidence That Food Is Your Best Medicine by Jean Carper
- Available on Amazon.com

According to research from Michigan State University, if gout attacks, chew on some cherries. Dr. Muralee Nair, lead author of the study, suggests eating about 20 or so cherries a day to reduce the swelling and ache of a sudden gout attack. "Daily consumption of cherries," Nair says, "has the potential to reduce pain related to inflammation, arthritis, and gout." Some researchers think cherries might work as well as drugs, without the side effects.
- Eat and Heal (Foods That Can Prevent or Cure Many Common Ailments) by the Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing
- Available on Amazon.com

I continued eating the sour cherries during their season and had relief the entire time. When I stopped eating them, the pain returned. I usually freeze cherries every year for pies, but instead of making pies, I resumed eating my frozen cherries. Doctors, family and lay people as well all laughed at me, but I still maintain that cherries were my cure for arthritis. Since that time if I ever get an attack I head for the freezer and my cherries. Mrs. M.G. reports: "After hearing about them, I began eating red, sour cherries for my gout".
- Miracle Medicine Foods by Rex Adams
- Available on Amazon.com

Bing and Royal Ann cherries are both sweet, but Bings have deeply colored juice, whereas the juice of the other variety is colorless. Sour cherries - the ones most favored for pies, tarts and turnovers are similarly divided: morellos have colored juice and amarelles colorless liquid. The very popular tart cherry, Montmorency, is light to dark red with red juice. Sweet cherries are available from May through August, while sour cherries go from late June to mid-August. Nothing works better for gout than either raw sweet cherries (15 per day), cherry juice concentrate (1 tbsp).
- Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs by John Heinerman
- Available on Amazon.com

By accident one day I heard about cherries for gout. I had gout, so after hearing this, I immediately bought several cans of cherries. I ate them for about a week, and all the swelling and stiffness disappeared! It was a miracle! "As long as I eat cherries, there is no pain. Exercise, walking, bicycling and no pain. I will eat cherries the rest of my life, they are fantastic!"
- Miracle Medicine Foods by Rex Adams
- Available on Amazon.com

The report says that "no attacks of gouty arthritis have occurred on a nonrestricted diet in all 12 cases, as a result of eating about one-half pound of fresh or canned cherries per day." This amazing fruit, often used in ice cream, cake, candy and desserts, may relieve your arthritis! Dr. Blau tells of astonishing cures by eating cherries-canned, sour, black, Royal Anne, or fresh black Bing cherries. One arthritis patient just drank the juice and the curative powers were equally effective.
- Miracle Medicine Foods by Rex Adams
- Available on Amazon.com

One item I can guarantee you'll see on the recommended list of just about any integrative medicine approach to gout is this, eat more cherries, more on that in a moment. Gout, also known as metabolic arthritis, is a painful, largely inherited disorder in which the body can't properly metabolize uric acid. Usually the bloodstream contains a small amount of the stuff, but in gout there's a lot of it.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
- Available on Amazon.com

According to a 1950 study of 12 people with gout, eating one-half pound of cherries or drinking an equivalent amount of cherry juice prevented attacks of gout. Black, sweet yellow, and red sour cherries were all effective. Since that study, there have been many anecdotal reports of cherry juice as an effective treatment for the pain and inflammation of gout. The active ingredient in cherry juice remains unknown. Lifestyle changes that may be helpful, people who are overweight or have high blood pressure are at greater risk of developing gout.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete A-Z Reference to Natural Treatments for Common Health Conditions by Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Forrest Batz, Pharm.D. Rick Chester, RPh., N.D., DipLAc. George Constantine, R.Ph., Ph.D. Linnea D. Thompson, Pharm.D., N.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Cherries, hawthorn berries, blueberries, and other dark red or blue berries are rich sources of compounds that favorably affect collagen metabolism and reduce inflammation of joints. Bioflavonoids found in black cherries have been used to reduce uric acid levels and decrease tissue destruction associated with gout. Gout patients should eliminate alcohol intake, which both increases uric acid production and reduces uric acid excretion in the kidneys.
- Alternative Medicine the Definitive Guide, Second Edition by Larry Trivieri, Jr.
- Available on Amazon.com

You can even find dried cherries, which are similar to raisins. Cherries boast not only great taste but also potential health benefits. With flavonoids, fiber, potassium, and traces of vitamins A and C, cherries have plenty of lookouts to guard your health. They're known to fight inflammation and, possibly, cancer. Try some cherries, and when someone asks if you're enjoying a delicious and healthy food, you won't have to tell a lie. You can easily say "yes."
- Eat and Heal (Foods That Can Prevent or Cure Many Common Ailments) by the Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing
- Available on Amazon.com

According to a 1950 study of twelve individuals with gout, eating one-half pound of cherries or the equivalent amount of cherry juice prevented attacks of gout. Black, sweet yellow, and red sour cherries were all effective. Since that study, there have been many anecdotal reports of cherry juice as an effective treatment of the pain and inflammation of gout. The active ingredient in cherry juice remains unknown. Individuals with gout should not consume nutritional yeast or brewer's yeast, as they can raise uric acid levels.
- The Natural Pharmacy: Complete Home Reference to Natural Medicine by Schuyler W. Lininger, Jr. DC
- Available on Amazon.com

History & Folklore Dioscorides, a lst-century AD physician, claimed that cherries relieve gas. The 16th-century herbalist John Gerard recorded the French custom of hanging cherries in houses to ward off fever. Medicinal Actions & Uses In European herbal medicine, cherry stems have long been used for their diuretic and astringent properties. They have been prescribed for cystitis, nephritis, urinary retention, and for arthritic problems, notably gout. Cherries can be a helpful part of an overall regimen treating arthritic problems. Cherries' high sugar content makes them mildly laxative.
- Miracle Medicine Herbs (Reward Books) by Richard Melvin Lucas
- Available on Amazon.com

A Michigan State University study found that 20 tart cherries were at least as effective as other painkilling remedies, including aspirin, ibuprofen, and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). That's why cherries are a popular folk remedy for arthritis and gout. Like many fruits and vegetables, Dried cherries make a cherries also have fiber and potas-great snack.
- Unleash the Inner Healing Power of Foods by The Editors of FC&A
- Available on Amazon.com

Cherries are especially recommended; the patient should consume 1/2 pound of fresh or canned cherries a day. Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy body weight. Lose weight if overweight. Cherries are particularly effective in lowering uric acid levels and preventing attacks of gout. cherries, hawthorn berries, blueberries, and other dark red-blue berries are rich sources of constituents called anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins.
- Medical Herbalism: The Science Principles and Practices Of Herbal Medicine by David Hoffman, FNIMH, AHG
- Available on Amazon.com

Cheer for cherries and berries, not all good things are off limits to people with gout. In studies, cherries (especially black cherries), blueberries, and strawberries have proven their ability to reduce levels of uric acid in studies. Black cherry juice is probably the most effective. Use it in pure juice form and drink \ to \ cup per day. shard-like crystals, this is a remedy tailor-made for people with gout. Typical dosage: 600 to 800 milligrams per day of product standardized to 1.5 percent harpagoside. Caution: Do not use if you have gastric or duodenal ulcers.
- The Herbal Drugstore by Linda B. White, M.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Sweet cherries are a warming food that increases vital energy and tone the spleen-pancreas, liver, and kidneys. Also astringent, they treat involuntary seminal emission. Cherries remove excess body acids and blood stagnation and, when eaten regularly, are therefore therapeutic for gout, paralysis, numbness in the extremities, and rheumatic pain in the lower half of the body. Sweet cherries reduce vata and kapha and can be used in moderation by pitta. Cherries are an excellent source of iron and contain some phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, as well as vitamin A.
- The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating by Rebecca Wood
- Available on Amazon.com

Consuming the equivalent of one-half pound of fresh cherries per day has been shown to be very effective in lowering uric acid levels and preventing attacks of gout. Cherries, hawthorn berries, blueberries, and other dark red-blue berries are rich sources of anthocyanidin and proanthocyanidin. These flavonoid molecules give the fruits their deep red-blue color, and are remarkable in their ability to prevent collagen destruction. Flavonoid-rich grape seed and hawthorn extracts are the best herbal recommendations for gout.
- The Healing Power of Herbs: The Enlightened Person's Guide to the Wonders of Medicinal Plants by Michael T. Murray, N.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Many people with gout swear that eating cherries helps quickly resolve attacks. Only one study, though, published in 1950, found that eating about a half-pound of fresh or canned Royal Ann or black Bing cherries a day helps lower uric acid levels. But it's worth a try. "Cherries, hawthorn berries, blueberries and other dark red-blue berries are rich sources of anthocyanidins and procyanidins," Dr. Pizzorno explains.
- Prevention's Healing With Vitamins : The Most Effective Vitamin and Mineral Treatments for Everyday Health Problems and Serious Disease by The Editors of Prevention Magazine Health Books
- Available on Amazon.com

Blood-sugar balance-blood study of twelve people with gout found that eating one-half pound of fresh or canned cherries or drinking a full quart of cherry juice prevented gout attacks. In all twelve people, uric acid levels returned to normal, and the gout attacks ceased.
- Prescription for Natural Cures: A Self-Care Guide for Treating Health Problems with Natural Remedies Including Diet and Nutrition, Nutritional Supplements, Bodywork, and More by James F. Balch, M.D. and Mark Stengler, N.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

"Old country doctors would tell patients to eat black cherries to stop having gout attacks, and the remedy usually worked," he says. Auricular Therapy: Instant Natural Pain Relief for a gout Attack Lend an ear if you want fast relief from gout. "I don't know of any noninvasive remedy that works as quickly or as well for the pain of gout as ear acupuncture, or auricular therapy," says Jay M. Holder, M.D., D.C., Ph.D., a chiropractor and addiction specialist in Miami and Miami Beach. In Chinese medicine, a healthy person's life-energy, or chi, flows along subtle lines called meridians.
- Alternative Cures: The Most Effective Natural Home Remedies for 160 Health Problems by Bill Gottlieb
- Available on Amazon.com

The red in raspberries and cherries, the blue in blueberries, and the orange in peppers all contain powerful plant chemicals that have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and frequently anticancer activity. The secret to the benefits of cherries and cherry juice are compounds called anthocyanins. These are the particular pigments in cherries that give them their bright red color and are considered to be the key to helping the body relieve inflammation. It's believed that the anthocyanins in the cherries cause the decrease in uric acid and the relief from the pain of gout.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
- Available on Amazon.com

Cherries' anthocyanidins have been shown to inhibit the activity of xanthine oxidase, the enzyme involved in the production of uric acid. Clinical studies have shown that consuming the equivalent of Vi pound of fresh cherries per day is very effective in lowering uric acid levels and preventing attacks of gout. The cherry season is brief, slightly more than three months long. Bing cherries usually appear at the end of May, peak in June and July, and are available through August, while Lamberts and other sweet, dark cherries arrive in mid-August.
- The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Boon from berries - help in another form comes from bioflavonoid molecules, which are found in cherries, blueberries, and other fruits. In the 1950s, researchers discovered that cherries could decrease uric acid levels and prevent a gout attack. You'd have to eat a lot of cherries, a half-pound a day to make a dent in gout. For the same results, you can take a bioflavonoid supplement or 2,000 milligrams of berry extract a day, says Dr. Maes. The best are those that have a combination of all the bioflavonoids or the extracts of several different berries, he says.
- Nature's Medicines : From Asthma to Weight Gain, from Colds to High Cholesterol -- The Most Powerful All-Natural Cures by Gale Maleskey
- Available on Amazon.com

It seems that there may well be, and that alternative is to eat cherries. Yes, plain cherries-sour or sweet. They can all do the trick, and it doesn't matter much if they're fresh, canned or frozen. The cherries-for-gout story seems to start with Ludwig W. Blau, Ph.D., whose big toe at one time gave him so much torment that he was confined to a wheelchair. One day, quite by accident, he polished off a whole bowl of cherries, and the next morning the pain in his foot was practically gone.
- The Practical Encyclopedia of Natural Healing by Mark Bricklin
- Available on Amazon.com

Celery and cherries appear to be very effective in lowering uric acid levels and preventing attacks of gout. Celery contains the compound 3-n-butylpthalide, while cherries are a rich source of flavonoids. Both of these compounds are beneficial in gout via several mechanisms, including the ability to inhibit the formation of uric acid by inhibiting the enzyme xanthine oxidase. The pain of an acute attack of gout is absolutely excruciating. In this situation, heroic measures are clearly appropriate.
- The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

It is reported that you can use sweet or sour cherries and they can be fresh, frozen, or even canned to achieve Dr. Blau's results. Cherries (and blueberries and other dark red or blue berries) are rich sources of substances that have a powerful ability to prevent collagen destruction. It is certainly worth a try. About a half-pound of cherries daily for a week could give you some positive results.
- Natural Prescriptions: Dr. Giller's Natural Treatments & Vitamin Therapies For Over 100 Common Ailments by Robert M. Giller, M.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Eat more blueberries and cherries, because they're rich in substances that counteract purines, which cause gout, says Julian Whitaker, M.D., founder and president of the Whitaker Wellness Center in Newport Beach, California. He says that some gout patients report finding relief by eating from a handful to up to l pound of cherries each day. He also advises people with gout to avoid anchovies, asparagus, mushrooms and organ meats such as liver and kidney, since they're high in purines.
- New Choices in Natural Healing: Over 1,800 of the Best Self-Help Remedies from the World of Alternative Medicine by Bill Gottlieb
- Available on Amazon.com

They may also help reduce uric acid levels, according to some research. Cherries and strawberries are popular folk remedies for gout. Go easy on vitamin C and niacin. Large doses of vitamin C and niacin can raise uric acid levels. The typical multivitamin/mineral supplement doesn't contain enough of either nutrient to trigger a gout attack. But don't take more than 2,000 milligrams of vitamin C a day, and limit niacin supplementation to 35 milligrams a day.
- The Green Pharmacy Anti-Aging Prescriptions: Herbs, Foods, and Natural Formulas to Keep You Young by James A. Duke, Ph.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

Eat cherries or take cherry extract. Eating half a pound (225 grams) of canned or fresh cherries a day has been shown to be a very effective means of preventing gout attacks. When fresh cherries are out of season, use cherry extracts or concentrates in tablet or tincture form, available from many health-food stores. It is likely that cherries inhibit compounds that cause inflammation. This reduces inflammation after uric acid builds up in a joint. To flush uric acid from the body, drink no less than eight glasses of water daily.
- Prescription for Herbal Healing: An Easy-to-Use A-Z Reference to Hundreds of Common Disorders and Their Herbal Remedies by Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
- Available on Amazon.com

Many people claim to stave off gout attacks by eating eight ounces a day of canned or fresh cherries. I have one friend, for instance, who claims to have great luck in staving off gout when he eats black cherries. This therapy has never been scientifically demonstrated to work, but since so many people swear by it, I think it's probably worth trying. (One caveat, though: Buying this many cherries might be even more expensive than my allopurinol.) I'm going to give my Cherry Cocktail a try.
- The Green Pharmacy: New Discoveries in Herbal Remedies for Common Diseases and Conditions from the World's Foremost Authority on Healing Herbs by James A. Duke, Ph.D.
- Available on Amazon.com

See Part II.