Do cherries prevent gout flares? One large study says maybe — but it isn't a trial
In a study of 633 people with gout, eating cherries over two days was linked to a 35% lower risk of a flare. It is suggestive, observational evidence — no randomised trial has yet confirmed it.
Cherries are the folk remedy for gout that a lot of patients already trust — by one estimate, perhaps a quarter of people with gout try cherries or cherry products for it [s2]. The honest answer to whether they prevent flares is: there is one large, much-cited study pointing that way, but it is observational, not a randomised trial, so it can suggest a link without proving cherries are the cause.
What the big study found
The key piece of evidence is a 2012 case-crossover study of 633 people with gout, followed online for a year [s1]. A case-crossover design compares each person to themselves: for every flare, the researchers recorded what someone ate in the two days beforehand and compared it with the same person's intake during flare-free control periods [s1]. That neatly removes fixed differences between people — genetics, sex, long-standing habits — because everyone is their own comparison.
Eating cherries over a two-day period was associated with a 35% lower risk of a gout attack compared with no intake (multivariate odds ratio 0.65; 95% CI 0.50 to 0.85) [s1]. Cherry extract showed a similar inverse association (odds ratio 0.55; 95% CI 0.30 to 0.98) [s1]. The effect held up across subgroups split by sex, obesity, purine intake, alcohol use, diuretic use, and use of anti-gout drugs [s1]. And when cherry intake was combined with allopurinol — the standard urate-lowering medicine — the risk of an attack was 75% lower than in periods with neither exposure (odds ratio 0.25; 95% CI 0.15 to 0.42) [s1].
Why "maybe" and not "yes"
Those numbers look striking, but the design has real limits the authors were careful about. It is observational: people who reached for cherries during a good stretch might differ in other ways from how they behaved before a flare, and the study cannot rule out that something else travelling with cherry-eating did the work [s1]. Diet was self-reported and recalled around painful events, which invites error. And a case-crossover study measures association over days, not a treatment effect proven by assigning cherries at random.
That matters because the obvious next step — a randomised trial in which some people get cherries and others a matched placebo — has not delivered a clear verdict. A 2019 review in Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease laid out the biological reasons cherries might plausibly help: they are rich in antioxidants, have anti-inflammatory properties, appear to lower urate, and can downregulate the inflammatory signalling behind a gout flare [s2]. But a plausible mechanism plus one positive observational study is not the same as proof, and the review framed cherries as a promising non-pharmacological option still short of trial confirmation [s2].
Where cherries fit — and where they don't
If you want to try cherries, the risk is low: they are food, cheap, and there is no signal of harm in this literature [s1][s2]. The study did not pin down a precise "dose," and the association was seen with both fresh cherries and cherry extract, so there is no evidence-based amount to aim for [s1]. The reasonable framing is a low-cost addition that might modestly cut flare risk, not a substitute for treatment that works.
That last point is the one to hold onto. The largest effect in the study came from combining cherries with allopurinol, not from cherries alone [s1]. Urate-lowering therapy is the treatment that actually dissolves the crystals driving gout over the long term, and the review's interest in cherries was partly driven by patients wanting to avoid drug interactions and side effects — not by evidence that fruit can replace those drugs [s2]. Cherries also do nothing for an attack that is already underway; that calls for the anti-inflammatory treatment your doctor recommends.
The bottom line
The best available study links cherry intake to a 35% lower risk of gout flares, and to a 75% reduction when paired with allopurinol [s1]. It is genuine, carefully done evidence — but it is observational, and no randomised trial has yet confirmed that cherries themselves prevent flares [s1][s2]. Treat them as a harmless, possibly helpful extra alongside proven urate-lowering treatment, not as a replacement for it. Recurrent or worsening gout warrants a doctor's review of whether your underlying urate level is being controlled.
This article describes what the studies found and is not medical advice.
Sources
- Cherry consumption and decreased risk of recurrent gout attacks — Arthritis & Rheumatism, 2012-11-28
- Is there a role for cherries in the management of gout? — Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease, 2019-05-17
Sources
- Cherry consumption and decreased risk of recurrent gout attacks — Arthritis & Rheumatism , November 28, 2012
- Is there a role for cherries in the management of gout? — Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Disease , May 17, 2019
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