Cherry Juice May Be a New Sports Drink

Fresh cherries are one of my favorite snacks. Yes, they have seeds, but I can overlook that.

I was happy to see that cherry juice is getting praise for its natural anti-inflammation power. A new study from Oregon Health & Science University shows that individuals who consumed tart cherry juice while training for a long-distance run said they had much less pain after exercise than those who didn’t drink the juice. The research was presented at the American College of Sports Medicine Conference in Seattle.

The study included 60 adults ages 18-50. Some of the runners drank 10.5 ounces of CHERRish 100% Montmorency cherry juice twice a day for seven days before and on the day of a long-distance run. On a scale from 0 to 10, the runners who had cherry juice reported a 2 point lower pain level at the completion of the race. That’s considered a clinically significant difference.

These results may mean that cherry juice could be a natural replacement for NSAIDS for some people suffering from muscle pain. Of course, you’d need to discuss any such switch with your doc first.

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