From May to August, life is a bowl of cherries. Most would agree, Bing cherries are a natural and delightfully sweet juicy treat. Now, as well as tasting good, researchers are telling us that cherries are also good for us. According to Agricultural Research Service chemist Darshan S. Kelley and colleagues, the stone fruit is a cancer prevention food with the ability to fight the inflammation associated with some cancers. In the blood samples of study volunteers, who consumed 45 fresh Bing cherries daily for 28 consecutive days, levels of three indicators of inflammation -- nitric oxide, C- reactive protein and a marker for T-cell activation -- dropped by 18 to 25 percent. The levels of inflammation continued to drop as time went on.
It's not like anyone needs a really good reason to eat Bing cherries, the taste alone is reason enough, but now we know Bing cherries as a cancer prevention food. Life truly can be found in a bowl of cherries.
1. Clearly the picture is of rainer cherries and not bing. They likely have the same cancer fighting properties however.
Posted at 5:10AM on May 17th 2006 by Andrew