The Wolfe Clinic - Tart Cherries

Tart Cherries - Instead of NSAIDs

The good news about the health benefits of cherries continues to increase. According to ongoing research, Montmorency tart cherries are a rich source of antioxidants, which can help fight cancer and heart disease. In addition, there are beneficial compounds in Montmorency tart cherries that help relieve the pain of arthritis and gout. Other fruits and vegetables do not have the pain relief of tart cherries. While the research on the exact mechanisms that give the pain relief is ongoing, many consumers are discovering that tart cherry juice and other cherry products can stave off pain.

Research also shows that tart cherries are a rich source of powerful antioxidants, including kaempferol, quercetin and melatonin. Melatonin is a powerful antioxidant considered more potent than vitamins C, E, and A, because it is soluble both in fat and water.

WHEN FIGHTING PAIN, CHERRY JUICE IS A GOOD THING

When pain from arthritis and gout strikes the body, most people don’t care how their medicine works, as long as it does work. What many pain sufferers take for granted is the complex chemical process that allows their pain medication to work. It’s the same chemistry that is making tart cherries the preferred "medication" for a booming generation of pain sufferers.

Drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen are called non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). They work by inhibiting two enzymes, cyclooxygenase I and II (popularly known as COX 1 and COX 2), which are produced by the body as a response to pain. NSAIDs prevent chemical messages from binding to cyclooxygenase. The normal messages are not delivered, so the body does not feel the pain and doesn’t become inflamed.

Unfortunately, many patients must take pain medication daily, which can cause numerous side effects, including upset stomachs, vomiting, kidney damage and, possibly, ulcers. This is because NSAIDs inhibit both COX 1 and COX 2, but the COX 1 enzyme is also important for maintaining normal cell function within several organs.

Tart cherries contain flavonoid compounds that function in the same manner as NSAIDs, but tart cherries are completely safe. They can not only help maintain normal COX enzymes; research also shows that flavonoids can protect against stomach damage, unlike their NSAID counterparts. It is suspected that the high levels of antioxidants found in cherries, particularly melatonin, provide a protective function and prevent unwanted symptoms. This makes concentrated cherry products superior to over-the-counter pain relief because cherries block pain in the same manner and reduce potential side effects.

'DEAN OF MELATONIN RESEARCH' GIVES TART CHERRIES HIGH MARKS

Dr. Russel Reiter never envisioned that he’d become a hero to U.S. tart cherry growers, but then again, he never imagined that melatonin, the simple, natural hormone he’d been studying for years, would be found in such significant quantities in tart cherries. "We were surprised at how much melatonin was in cherries, specifically the Montmorency variety," says Reiter. The only other fruits that

have been examined to date are bananas and pineapples, and both have comparatively low melatonin levels. "Cherry juice concentrate, which involves greatly reducing the water content, has ten times the melatonin of the raw fruit."

Produced in the pineal gland at the base of the brain, melatonin controls sleepiness at night, wakefulness in daytime and functions as an antioxidant to help the body destroy free radicals.

CONSUMER DISCOVERS CHERRY JUICE

I am so excited about Cherry Juice! I have suffered with hip pain and was taking over-the-counter arthritis medication. I also was trying to exercise and diet to see if I could get some relief from the pain. My cousin, who has been listening to my complaints, suggested that I try drinking cherry juice because his friend had good results. With my cousin’s insistence, I started taking two tablespoons (about one ounce) a day of the concentrated cherry juice. I’m just amazed. For the first time in weeks, I have slept through the night and haven’t taken any medication. It’s a miracle! This is unreal! I am going to tell everyone I know who suffers from pain about cherry juice concentrate. Thank you so much for this product and for all the time you have spent researching this." —Kim from Michigan

Recent research conducted by Dr. Reiter at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, Texas quantified the availability and activity of melatonin found in cherry products. The results were astonishing. Cherries contain an extremely significant quantity of melatonin, enough to produce positive results in the body.

Montmorency cherries, which account for the majority of tart cherries produced in the United States, contain up to 13.5 nanograms (ng) of melatonin per gram of cherries, more than is normally found in the blood.

"We were surprised at how much melatonin was in cherries, specifically the Montmorency variety."

—Dr. Russel Reiter, University of Texas Health Science Center

Dr. Russel Reiter began his distinguished career more than 30 years ago in neuroendocrinology, the study of the glands and hormones of the brain. A year earlier, in 1958, a dermatologist named Aaron Lerner at Yale University discovered the existence of melatonin.

Today, Dr. Reiter is the preeminent scientist on melatonin and the advantageous effects it has on human health and well-being. Dr. Reiter has authored or co-authored more than 700 papers in his field, trained over 130 doctorates, and is the author of the book Melatonin, published by Bantam Books. His peers consider him the "dean of melatonin research."

One of the main areas on which Dr. Reiter focused in his recent work addresses a common consumer concern, which is, "will the melatonin present in cherries actually increase melatonin levels in the body favorably?" Melatonin is by far the most potent of the antioxidants, much more so than vitamins C, E and A. The reason: melatonin is soluble both in fat and water and can therefore enter some cells that vitamins cannot. For example, vitamin E is soluble in the lipid part of the cell only and vitamin C in the aqueous part. Melatonin is soluble in both. For this reason, Dr. Reiter says, eating cherries with high melatonin concentrations will increase the antioxidant capacity in the body.

THE NATURAL CHOICE—APOTHE-CHERRY

Who wouldn’t love to savor a bowl of fresh, juicy cherries as often as possible? There is just no substitute for the real thing. Apothe-Cherry is just juice concentrate, that’s all. No additives, no preservatives, just real cherry juice. And it lasts for 10 months on the shelf. Try that with your next bowl of cherries! Concentrating the juice is not only much more practical and convenient; the fact that it’s highly concentrated means it’s even more potent than the fruit itself. You’d have to eat pounds and pounds of fresh cherries to get the health benefits of a glass of Apothe-Cherry. There are about 100 fresh cherries in a 1-ounce glass of this cherry juice.

Apothe-Cherry is a pure Montmorency tart cherry liquid concentrate that mixes with juice or water. And with a shelf life of 12 months, you can be assured you’ll never run out.

Tart cherries capacity for scavenging free radicals, identified as their “ORAC,” in each serving of Apothe-Cherry is more than 7,000 units. This is comparable to the ORAC levels of raspberries, which have been found to stop, yes, stop, the spread of cancer in a study conducted at the Hollings Cancer Institute in South Carolina.

Wishing you the best in health,
The Wolfe Clinic
www.thewolfeclinic.com
1-877-359-6950

The above article is reprinted from The Doctors’ Prescription for Healthy Living/Volume 9, Number 2.