Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice – Learn the Benefits of this Ruby Red Fruit

The Montmorency tart cherry continues to reveal its health secrets to the delight of millions of people interested in living a healthier and more active lifestyle.

This ruby-red fruit is low in calories, natural sugar and is a natural source of fiber, potassium and vitamin A, C, and E. In addition tart cherries are natural source of Melatonin.

In fact, the average tart cherry has approximately 7,000 tart cherries prior to harvest. It takes approximately 100 cherries to make just one 8 ox. glass of tart cherry juice concentrate. This means each tart cherry tree grows approximately 70 glasses of tart cherry juice.

The versatility of the tart cherry allows this tiny fruit to offer a wide variety of products for both nutraceutical benefits and great taste.

The Benefits of Cherry Juice and Tart Cherries

Cherries have pleased the palates of food lovers for centuries. Their ruby-red color and tangy taste won cherries a place on the tables of Roman conquerors, Greek citizens and Chinese noblemen. Cherries were brought to America by ship with early settlers in the 1600s. In addition to the fresh fruit, tart cherry juice also became popular over the past several decades.

Tart cherry juice has been popularity over the past several years due to scientific research results continuously being published about the natural health benefits of the tart cherry juice.

Here is a brief overview of some of the research published about the benefits of cherry juice:

According to research conducted at the University of Vermont, a tart cherry juice blend, used in the study, helped soothe muscle soreness due to physical exercise.*

Research results from the Michigan State University (MSU) has found that a person eating 20 tart cherries a day could realize the antioxidant and/or health benefits of the tart cherry.

Dr. Russel Reiter, professor of neuroendocrinlogy at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Antonio, TX has conducted research on the tart cherry and Melatoin. Based upon these research results, tart cherries are found to be a natural source of Melatonin. Since Melatonin helps regulate the body’s natural clock, tart cherries may help many get more restful sleep.*

In addition to tart cherry juice, tart cherry capsules are an ideal alternative to drinking the cherry juice. Tart cherry capsules have less sugar per serving than tart cherry juice and offer the specific antioxidants of the tart cherry in a convenient, easy-to-swallow capsule. Learn More about Tart Cherry Capsules

Research Conducted on the Tart Cherry and Tart Cherry Juice

Recent research conducted at Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston and Brunswick Laboratory in Wareham, MA reveals each 100 gram serving (about 3 1/2 oz.) of tart cherry juice concentrate delivers over 12,000 ORAC units (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity). See the chart to the left for the antioxidant capacity of selected fruits.

Higher ORAC values are imperative to maintaining a health body simply because antioxidants fight free radicals in the body. A free radical is an unbalanced and reactive molecule that has lost one or more of its electrons. Free radicals attempt to rob needed electrons from other molecules. If you have ever witnessed a cut apple or potato turn brown, you are witnessing what free radicals can do to healthy molecules.

Many people, think of the free radical reaction in your body similar to “cellular rust”. Rust on metal is actually an oxidation reaction. While free radicals occur naturally in oru bodies, we increase them by exposing ourselves to many pollutants, cigarette smoke and even ultraviolet radiation from the sun.

ORAC units help to fight free radicals. Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate is an excellent source of ORAC to help the body in fight free radicals.

Tart Cherries Rank High on the ORAC Scale

Tart Cherries: Source of Vital Antioxidants

Brunswick Laboratories, Wareham, MA recently conducted extensive nutraceutical evaluations and ORAC testing on four Montmorency tart cherry products. Dr. Boxin Ou, principal research scientist at Brunswick Laboratories and one of the leading scientists in the U.S. on phytochemicals in plant foods, filed these scientific notes on the evaluations.

Tart cherries have some of the highest ORAC values of tested fruits and vegetables. The results are per 100 grams of each product..

• Dried tart cherries have 6,800 ORAC units
• Frozen tart cherries have 2,033 ORAC units
• Canned water-packed tart cherries have 1,700 ORAC units

Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate

In addition to an impressive ORAC unit value per serving, tart cherry juice may also help maintain maintain healthy joints*, support a healthy cardiovascular system* and relieve muscle soreness due to physical exercise*.

Fruit Advantage 100% pure Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice is available from Traverse Bay Farms located in Northern Michigan. The Montmorency tart cherries used to make Fruit Advantage Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate are from Northern Michigan cherry farms.

Fruit Advantage is the exclusive tart cherry brand of Traverse Bay farms. Fruit Advantage has captured this amazing ruby red fruit and bottled it into a simple to enjoy a healthy cherry juice drink.

Another benefit for tart cherries is they is that frozen Montmorency tart cherries rank under 55 on the Glycemic Index scale. This is just one more reason to enjoy a glass of Fruit Advantage Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate today! Frozen Montmorency Tart Cherries are a low “Glycemic Index” food.

University of Michigan Studies Tart Cherry Powder

Tart Cherries may help maintain a healthy cardiovascular system and more… Initial research from the University of Michigan finds tart cherry powder made from whole tart cherries may help maintain a healthy cardiovascular system and also fight cell oxidative stress (cell damage caused by free radicals).

Earlier studies show that tart cherries are packed with naturally occurring antioxidants to help maintain a healthy body. On April 30, 2007, the results of a study conducted by the University of Michigan were presented at the Experimental Biology 2007 meeting in Washington D.C..

During the study, whole tart cherry powder was fed to two test groups of rats. The tart cherry powder equated either to 1 percent or 10 percent of their diets for a 90 day period. Another study group received diets with no whole cherry powder.

The results showed that the cherry-enriched (tart cherry powder) diets had experienced additional health benefits when compared to the none cherry-enriched diets.

The researchers found that the rats in the study which were fed tart cherry powder benefited from just modest amounts of tart cherry powder. Some of the results included lower levels of cell oxidative stress (possibly due to the synergistic benefits of the compounds found in the tart cherry powder). In addition, the study indicated the tart cherry powder may also help maintain cardiovascular health in the subjects.

The researchers also indicated that after receiving promising cardiovascular results from using tart cherry powder in the study, the U of M team will soon launch clinical trials on humans with tart cherry powder. Learn More about Tart Cherry Powder