Gout attack risk reduced by cherry consumption, says study

GlobalPost

A new study has shown that the risk of a gout attack is reduced by eating cherries.

Researchers at Boston University found that by eating 30 cherries within 48 hours of a gout attack cuts the risk of its recurrence by 35 percent.

Though it was believed for decades that cherries could magically cure gout, this is the first study to demonstrate the connection, said ABC News.

The study followed 633 gout patients, monitoring their flare-ups and medical status for a year.

The doctors also looked at cherry consumption throughout the year.

They found that eating about three servings of cherries before an attack tended to reduce the likelihood of the flare-up from actually occurring.

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Oddly, it was only that amount of cherries that had any effect.

"...further cherry intake did not provide any additional beneficial effect," Yuqing Zhang, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University, according to the Telegraph.

It is still unclear why the cherries are effective but the researchers speculate it is the antioxidant compounds inside them that provide the health benefits.

Gout is a form of arthritis that flares up occasionally in sufferers with varying degrees of severity.

It is caused by a build-up of uric acid in the bloodstream.

Gout affects about one in 100 people, reported BBC, with men more at risk than women.

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