Eating cherries ‘can protect patients from gout attacks’

Eating cherries could have a beneficial impact for sufferers of gout, according to a US study that has appeared in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

The research, led by Boston University scientists, has assessed the effects of increasing the intake of cherries and cheery extract among 633 gout patients over a one-year period.

It was found that people who consumed cherries over a two-day period showed a 35 percent lower risk of gout attacks compared to those who did not, while this reduction increased to 75 percent when cherry intake was combined with the uric-acid reducing drug allopurinol.

Gout is an inflammatory arthritis triggered by a crystallisation of uric acid within the joints, but scientists have shown that cherry products can reduce pain due to their urate-lowering effects and anti-inflammatory properties.

Dr Yuqing Zhang, professor of medicine and public health at Boston University, said: "Our findings indicate that consuming cherries or cherry extract lowers the risk of gout attack. The gout flare risk continued to decrease with increasing cherry consumption, up to three servings over two days."

Gout is estimated to affect one in 70 people in the UK and is more common in older people.