Tart cherry may prevent bone loss but more research is needed

Tart cherry could be used to protect against future fragility fractures in people who have chronic inflammation, a team reports in Nutrients.

The research is exciting because there are some concerns about current drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis-associated bone loss.

The US team set out to look at if tart cherry could be used as a supplement to prevent inflammation-mediated bone loss in tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-overexpressing transgenic mice. The transgenic mice were split into groups: 0%, 5%, or 10% tart cherry diet, with another group receiving infliximab as a positive control. Age-matched wild-type mice were fed a 0% tart cherry diet as a control group.

Tart cherry was found to:

• Prevent TNF-mediated weight loss but did not suppress elevated levels of interleukin-1β and interleukin-6;
• Protect bone structure from inflammation-induced bone loss to a degree comparable to infliximab;
• Show a moderate improvement in TNF-mediated decline in bone stiffness.

The research group concludes:

“Tart cherry could be used as a prophylactic regimen against future fragility fractures in the context of highly chronic inflammation.”

The research without doubt is promising but needs to be replicated in humans.

Click here to read the original research.

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