What are the Health Benefits of Including Cherry in Your Daily Diet

What is firm on the outside and juicy on the inside? Well, there might come a million things to your mind but what if I rephrase my question and ask you the same when you are having a fruit salad? 

The first thing to come to your mind is cherry. 

Cherry is one fruit that you want to eat all year round. 

They are known for their sweetness. As tender as they are on the outside, they are equally juicy on the inside. Sweet cherries are commonly harvested in the Pacific Northwest mainly in Rainier, Bing, and Chelan. They aren’t just known for their great taste but they pack the perfect nutrient composition. 

Cherries have endless health benefits. Today, I am going to break down and explain some of them. 

So without further ado, let’s find out why cherry is a great addition to your diet routine. 

Nutrition Breakdown for Cherries

In case, you wonder what nutritions does an average cherry serving contains

Per 1 Cup, No Pits (1), cherries contain, 

• Energy | 97 kcal
• Carbohydrates | 25 g
• Sugar | 20 g
• Protein | 2 g
• Fiber | 3 g
• Vitamin C | 11 mg (18% DV)
• Potassium | 342 mg (10% DV)
• Manganese | .1 mg (5% DV)
• Copper | .1 (5% DV)
• Vitamin K | 3.2 mg (4% DV)
• Vitamin B6 | .1 mg (4% DV)
• Magnesium | 16.9 (4% DV)

Benefits of Consuming Cherry

While there are countless benefits of consuming cherry, here are a few that we really wish you know. 

1) Powerhouses of Anti-Oxidants

Do you know that there are small molecules known as the free radicals which circulate in our bodies? 

These free molecules are incomplete and that’s why they freely circulate around in our body. They are normally produced during the digestion process or when we are exposed to harmful environments such as air pollution or radiation. When our body overdoses on an excessive amount of free radicals it results in causing cell damage, create illnesses and have other detrimental effects on our body. 

It’s what the doctor’s term as oxidative stress. Here’s where Antioxidants come in! They are agents who search up these free-radicals in our bodies. Once they find these free radicals, they fix or complete them. Cherries are known for antioxidants as the sweet ones pack quite a lot of these anti-oxidant agents. Cherries contain polyphenols, melatonin, carotenoids, vitamin E and vitamin C. It’s why cherries are proven to be a great food supplement that ensures a body stays safe from diseases.

2) Promotes Healthy Sleep Cycle

Many individuals consume melatonin in supplement form when they struggle to put themselves off to sleep. But inducing melatonin artificially isn’t the only way to increase it; you can find natural melatonin in fruit products like sweet cherries and various other food products. 

Research indicates that consuming cherries before hitting the hay increases the quality of sleep. Not only that but with good sleep quality, it also equally contributes to the number of hours in your sleep. 

Plus cherries contain serotonin, melatonin & tryptophan which additionally regulates the sleep cycles.

3) Minimizes Chronic Inflammation

If there is one thing that significantly contributes to bodily inflammations, it is none other but the increased amount of nitrous oxide concentration in the human body. Cherries are a great source as they contain certain antioxidants which can significantly decrease the nitrous oxide concentration. 

As per the research published on NCBI public health journal, Eating cherries can decrease plasma concentration of eight biomarkers which contributes to inflammatory diseases. Cherries further contain polyphenols which are a great source decreasing oxidative stress and prevent inflammation. Polyphenol further contributes to minimizing other harmful ailments such as diabetes and arthritis. 

It also reduces hypertension and prevents cancer from taking place in the body. 

4) Say Goodbye to Gouts

When you get bouts of joint pain and swelling, the medical term for it is known as gouts. It is a specific form of arthritis which takes place due to inflammation. The pain takes place because the body produces an excessive amount of uric acid in human blood. This excessive uric acid results in creating heavy pain in joints which ultimately transforms into gouts in places like toe joints and more. 

Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, cherries are the best source as they reduce the symptoms of gout remarkably. Cherries regulates the amount of uric acid in human blood to normal so the body stays safe from gout attacks. In fact, research indicates they are more effective than ibuprofen and naproxen when it comes to alleviating pain and minimizing gout occurrences in different body joints. 

5) Minimizes Cholesterol Levels

Cherry is also widely known for its ability to reduce the body cholesterol levels. They contain antioxidants that reduce the VLDL (bad) cholesterol and improve triglyceride HDL (good) cholesterol. 

The complete study has been published in the SAGE pub journal in case you want to learn about it. 

Further tests performed by researchers on lab rats also indicated that cherries contribute to good heart functioning. It decreases liver triglycerides and prevents the development of fatty acid in livers. 

6) Reduce Blood Pressure

Another interesting benefit of adding the cherry to your daily fruit diet is that it reduces blood pressure. It has a direct impact on both systolic and diastolic blood pressure among youth as well as adults. Another research states that cherries contain phenolic acids that have vasorelaxant and antihypertensive properties which reduces blood pressure and prevents the causes of blood pressure. 

The health of a heart is directly dependent on the amount of cholesterol and blood pressure of your body. So if you add sweet cherries to your diet, you will eventually see both of them get regulated. 

7) Helps in Treating Type II Diabetes

Another interesting benefit of adding cherries to your diet is that it can help you body prevent getting type II diabetes. The cherry fruit is one of the ideal carbohydrate sources which eradicates the type II diabetes occurrence from the body. As far as the cherry fruit itself is concerned, they are low on the glycemic index which does not result in high blood sugar spike or experience any insulin response. 

Moreover, the polyphenol extracts in cherries further help battle hyperglycemia and oxidative stress. For now, research and evidence suggest that consuming cherries can promote healthy blood sugar.