Cherries boast some seriously succulent flavors, and when it is the season, they are the thing to stock up on for snacking at home. But did you know that they boast great benefits? According to BBC Good Food, cherries are a good source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, including potassium, calcium, vitamin A and folic acid. However, what about cherries are not in season? How do you get the delicious taste and the great benefits for your body? Enter: cherry juice. Though not exactly as fun as the fresh fruit itself, cherry juice is a great way to reap all the benefits of cherries year-round.
When choosing your cherry juice it is important that you do not get juice from concentrate, or juice with added sugars. The juice is naturally sweet on its own, and your body does not need extra sugar. Also, ensuring that it is pure cherry juice and not juice from concentrate will guarantee you get the benefits you’re looking for. Juice made from concentrate means that it is squeezed and filtered, the water is removed, then the juice is rehydrated and packaged. Juice not from concentrate means it is simply fresh juice right into the bottle.
Here are all the reasons you’re going to want to start drinking cherry juice today.
Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice
1. It’s rich in nutrients!
Just like fresh cherries, cherry juice comes loaded with nutrients that your body will love. Here are a few of the nutrients you’ll find in a cup of this juice:
- Fiber
- Vitamins A, B, C, and K
- Manganese
- Potassium
- Protein
- Low fat
- Copper
- Calcium
- Iron
- Magnesium
- Omega-3
- Omega-6
You can get all of these vitamins and minerals from a single cup serving of cherry juice!
2. Tart cherry juice strengthens the immune system.
Because of all the vitamins and minerals that cherry juice has, it is known to help your immune system remain strong. It also comes packed with antioxidants, which are great in keeping your body strong and ready to fight harm that may come its way. The specific antioxidants in cherry juice are flavonoids, which plants make in order to fight infection. So, if you feel a cold coming on, be sure to grab yourself some cherry juice.
3. It can help you sleep.
In addition to all of the above, cherries also are rich in melatonin, which is the key ingredient to a good night’s sleep.
For some people, a full dose of just straight melatonin can leave them feeling drowsy in the morning and if that sounds like you, you’re in luck because cherry juice has the right amount of melatonin to give you that boost towards sleep without the heavy effects of an entire dose.
Cherries also have tryptophan and another compound called anthocyanin, which is known to help your body produce melatonin and thus aid in a good night’s sleep.
4. Tart cherry juice may improve brain health.
According to the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, one of the factors contributing to cerebral biochemical impairment is a chemical process called oxidative stress. They go on to say that oxidative stress occurs upon excessive free radical production resulting from an insufficiency of the counteracting antioxidant response system.
Thanks to the high levels of antioxidants in cherries, drinking this fruit’s juice may be able to help your brain stay healthy and aid in short and long-term memory.
5. It helps to get rid of fat.
We are on board with anything that helps us battle excess fat, so if all it takes is drinking some cherry juice, count us in!
Studies have been done with animals that show cherries help to regulate the body’s metabolism as well as aid in losing body fat. In addition, the flavonoid present in cherries, anthocyanins are known to combat obesity-caused inflammation. According to this study, “anthocyanin mixtures found in food such as red cabbage microgreen, blueberry, blackcurrant, mulberry, cherry, black elderberry, black soybean, chokeberry and jaboticaba peel (in whole or extract) interestingly had higher clinical efficacy than single anthocyanins against inflammation.
6. Tart cherry juice can reduce soreness in the muscles.
Are you an active person who endures from sore muscles after a workout? Then cherry juice is about to become your best post-workout friend. A study done for the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition showed that participants who were given cherry juice after a race reported a significantly smaller increase in pain compared to the placebo group. So next time you can sense some sore muscles coming on, grab some cherry juice to ease the pain.
Is tart cherry juice high in sugar?
Maybe not as high as you think. A cup of sweet cherries contains around 90 calories and about 18 grams of natural sugar. A cup of tart cherries provides around 50 calories and about 10 grams of sugar. However, tart cherries are generally too tart to eat out of hand, so you’re more likely to find them canned in a heavy syrup, or in the juice aisle, next to the other fruit juices.
When in juice form, 8 ounces of unsweetened tart cherry juice still contains about 30 grams of sugar. And, like any fruit juice, cherry juice retains many of the nutrients but does not contain the fiber you’d get from eating whole fruit.
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