This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Cherry consumption reduced risk for gout attacks
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Patients with gout who consumed cherries or cherry extract during a 2-day period had a lower risk for gout attacks compared with those who had no intake, according to study results.
Researchers studied 633 patients with gout (mean age, 54 years; 78% men; 88% white) online for a year, asking participants who experienced gout attacks about the date of the attack, symptoms and signs, medications and potential risk factors (including daily intake of cherries and cherry extract) during the 2 days before the attack (hazard periods). For controls, the same information was assessed over 2-day periods at study entry, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months.
Yuqing Zhang
There were 1,247 gout attacks documented during the 1-year period. Thirty-five percent of patients reported only ingesting fresh cherries, 2% reported consuming only cherry extract and 5% reported ingesting fresh cherries and cherry extract during hazard, control or both time periods. There was a 35% lower risk for gout attacks for patients who consumed cherries during a 2-day period compared with no intake (adjusted OR=0.65; 95% CI, 0.50-0.85). There was a 45% lower risk for gout attacks when cherry extract was ingested (adjusted OR=0.55; 95% CI, 0.30-0.98). When cherries and cherry extract were considered together, risk decreased by 37% (adjusted OR=0.63; 95% CI, 0.49-0.82). The risk decreased to 75% (OR=0.25; 95% CI, 0.15-0.42) when cherry intake was combined with allopurinol use. Cherry intake’s effect was maintained across subgroups by sex, obesity status, purine intake, and alcohol, diuretic and anti-gout medication use.
“Just two servings of cherries in the prior 2 days reduced the risk of gout attacks, where a single serving was considered to be one half-cup [about 10 to 12 cherries],” researcher Yuqing Zhang, D.Sc., professor of medicine and epidemiology, Boston University School of Medicine, told Healio.com.
“While our study findings are promising, randomized clinical trials should be conducted to confirm whether cherry products could provide a nonpharmacological prevention option against gout attacks,” Zhang said. “Our findings do not suggest that patients with gout should abandon standard therapies for gout.”
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts