Sour Cherry

• Overview
• Uses
• Side Effects
• Precautions
• Dosing

Sour cherry is a fruit. The fruit and stem of the sour cherry are used to make medicine and food. Of the more than 270 varieties of sour cherry, only a few are important commercially. These include the Montmorency, Richmond, and English morello.

Sour cherry is used for osteoarthritis, muscle pain, exercise-related muscle damage, gout, insomnia, to increase urine production, and to help digestion.

In foods, sour cherries are eaten as a food or flavoring.

In manufacturing, sour cherry is used to make cherry syrup for drugs with an unpleasant taste.

How does it work?

Sour cherry fruit contains ingredients that are thought to reduce inflammation. It also contains melatonin which helps to regulate sleep patterns.

Insufficient Evidence to Rate Effectiveness for...

• Insomnia. Some research shows that drinking a specific juice blended from whole Montmorency tart cherries and apple juice (Tru Cherry Cheribundi, CherryPharm, Inc., USA) 8 ounces twice might modestly improve sleep patterns in some people with insomnia.
• Arthritis.
• Gout.
• Increasing urination.
• Improving digestion.
• Other conditions.

More evidence is needed to rate sour cherry for these uses.

Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database rates effectiveness based on scientific evidence according to the following scale: Effective, Likely Effective, Possibly Effective, Possibly Ineffective, Likely Ineffective, and Insufficient Evidence to Rate (detailed description of each of the ratings).

The fruit of the sour cherry is safe for most adults when eaten as food or used as medicine. However, it is not known if sour cherry stems or dietary supplements containing the sour cherry stems are safe.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: The fruit of the sour cherry is safe for pregnant or breast-feeding women when eaten in normal food amounts. However, it is not known if medicinal amounts of sour cherry fruit, sour cherry stems, or dietary supplements containing the sour cherry stems are safe. Stay on the safe side and stick to sour cherry fruit in food amounts.

The appropriate dose of sour cherry depends on several factors such as the user's age, health, and several other conditions. At this time there is not enough scientific information to determine an appropriate range of doses for sour cherry. Keep in mind that natural products are not always necessarily safe and dosages can be important. Be sure to follow relevant directions on product labels and consult your pharmacist or physician or other healthcare professional before using.