After reading about the benefits of drinking sour cherry juice I have decided to give it a try to see if it makes me feel any better. It is no hardship for me, as I love cherry juice with something of a passion, so a small glass twice a day is actually something I really look forward to.

Sour cherry juice is different to cartons of juice you might buy from the supermarket. You only need 30mls of this highly concentrated juice which I dilute with water to make a refreshing drink. It certainly puts a spring in my step after I’ve drunk it and it makes me feel really great, it’s hard to describe but I feel super-healthy for about an hour afterwards and I’ve only been drinking it for a week now.

What are the benefits of drinking sour cherry juice?

1. A glass of juice is one of your recommended five a day. Drinking one glass means I’ve made a start on my fruit and veg portions for the day.
2. Optima sour cherry juice is made from high quality Montmorency cherries which are packed with powerful antioxidants known as flavonoids. These are a type of antioxidant which is known to fight infection and can have a positive impact on the function of your immune system.
3. Research by the Macrothink Institute in 2012 revealed that the antioxidants in sour cherry juice can reduce pain and significantly reduce inflammation from osteoarthritis. As a chronic pain sufferer I think that this is worth trying out.
4. Sour cherry juice is naturally high in potassium, which helps to maintain your blood pressure, nerve impulses, digestion and heart rate. A glass of cherry juice contains about 10% of your daily allowance of potassium.
5. Cherries are an excellent source of vitamins A and C.
6. A 2007 study in America looked at the effect of sour cherry juice on rats and they found that including sour cherry juice in your daily diet could lower cholesterol, lead to reduced abdominal fat storage and help to protect against metabolic syndrome.
7. Some recent research in America had indicated that sour cherry juice may help improve the quality and duration of sleep, reduce the severity of insomnia and increase overall sleep efficiency.
8.  A 2014 study by Northumbria University found that cherry juice promoted faster recovery from exercise, maintained muscle function and reduced the incidence and severity of exercise-induced inflammation.

I’ve been trying out the Optima Montmorency Cherry Juice. It is a 500ml bottle and I have approximately 60mls a day, a little goes a long way. The ingredients are Montmorency Cherry Juice Concentrate (99.8%) and the preservative: Potassium Sorbate, so it’s not packed full of sugar or chemicals. Each 30ml serving of the juice contains 78 calories, but you can dilute this down as much as you want.

As someone who lives with chronic pain, I am constantly taking pain killers including anti-inflammatory medication and I really struggle to get to sleep every single night. If all of these health benefits are true, then for me drinking sour cherry juice is a no brainer, and I love how it tastes too, so it’s an easy, pleasurable thing for me to do and one which could potentially promote my own good health.