Cherries and Gout

Abstract Despite the current use of urate lowering therapy (ULT) for the treatment of gout, there has been increasing interest generated by patients as well as providers for alternative non-pharmacologic treatment options for gout. The use of cherry as a non-pharmacologic option dates back centuries, but there is currently no data examining its urate-lowering potential. Cherry, a small fruit rich in ascorbic acid has generated a lot of attention in the treatment of many disease conditions such as insomnia, obesity, and cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension. Many patients have reportedly tried cherry or its products in the treatment of their gout. Cherry has both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, in addition its hypouricemic effects, increases its ability to reduce serum urate levels and increase its urinary excretion. Its mechanism of action is by lowering a protein complex, the nuclear factor kappa-light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NFKB),which controls the DNA transcription, cytokine production and cell survival mediated osteoclastgenesis