Arthritis sufferers often turn to the dietary supplement chondroitin to ease their pain. Despite its popularity, new research suggests you may be better off adding foods like cherries to your diet than spending money on pills.
Tart cherries (the variety sold as dried, frozen and juice) are one of the richest sources of anthocyanins, which have anti-inflammatory properties that are similar to some types of pain relief medications. There have been 75 research studies dating from the 1950s which shown that these compounds in cherries possess anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, and anti-carcinogenic properties.
Anecdotal evidence has grown a fan base of people with arthritis that say that tart cherries help soothe their symptoms. Although this anecdotal evidence has existed for decades, there now appears to be science behind the cherry folklore. In the meantime, a new study published in the Annuals of Internal Medicine concluded that chondroitin supplements may not be doing the job as advertised.
