Tart cherries beat meds for muscle pain

Muscle soreness and pain can slow your life down. It’s not bad enough that we lose muscle as we age, but unless you do something, your muscles will get weaker with more aches, too.

But research shows there’s a tasty fruit juice that can ease your muscle aches and reduce inflammation.

Tart cherry juice lowers oxidative stress and inflammaging in muscle tissue.

Did you know that tart cherry juice is so effective that pain medication manufacturers successfully got the FDA to send out warning letters to cherry growers insisting they stop telling people that scientific studies found that chemicals found in cherries could reduce pain and inflammation?

Tart cherry juice is so effective at stopping inflammation without side effects that it’s every bit as good as over the counter pain medication.

Other research looked at cyclists who took part in intensive bicycling. It showed that ingesting cherry juice can reduce inflammation by about 30 percent.

Intense exercise gives rise to inflammation and oxidative stress that can damage muscles, leave your muscles sore and hurt your ability to recover from workouts, says researcher Glyn Howatson. Howatson notes that natural substances in tart cherries, like anthocyanins, help the body resist these processes.

“Previous studies have looked at tart cherries and the effect on recovery following weight lifting exercise and marathon running, but until now there hasn’t been information on recovery following strenuous exercise from cycling,” explains Howatson. “We found that those cyclists that consumed Montmorency tart cherry juice had statistically significant lower indices of inflammation and metabolic oxidative stress, which is the first time it has been demonstrated following this type of exercise.”

You can get tart cherry juice as a dried extract in a supplement.

But unless there is a real deficiency, foods as close to their natural form are always your best source of nutrients. So look for real tart cherry juice at specialty health food stores. Make sure it is 100 percent organic, and not made from concentrate. Trader Joe’s and Lakewood Organic both have 32 ounce bottles that are fresh pressed and all natural.

Editor’s note: For pain relief and better sleep, like a pain-relieving sleepy-time smoothie. Get the recipe here.