If you’re like me, you’ve probably noticed all of the recent news about the health benefits of cherry juice concentrate. Or, maybe you just being introduced the benefits of tart cherry juice for the first time. Although cherry juice has been around in the health and wellness arena since the 1950’s it was only until Dr. Oz. did a show on the benefits of this Michigan, grown super fruit. On the June 21, 2011 episode of The Dr. Oz. Show, he called it the “ultimate antioxidant” and mentioned a number of the health benefits of tart cherry juice. While there are over 250 different types of cherries, each variety has different levels of antioxidants. Below are the most popular types of sour cherry variety:
Montmorency
The Montmorency tart cherry variety accounts for the majority of the tart cherries grown in the United State. The Northwestern region of the lower peninsula of Michigan grows over 65% of all of the Montmorency cherries in America. They are typically harvested beginning the second week if July.
Balaton
The balaton cherry is new addition the domestically grown tart cherry crop. This variety is originally from Turkey and Eastern Europe. However, their began to be imported into the United States in the late 1990’s.
English Morella
This is more firm and deep red in color than the Balaton or Montmorency cherry. In addition, they tend to be larger in size too. The summer harvest for this variety begin approximately the third week of July.
Meteor
This type of cherry was introduced by the University of Minnesota in the early 1950’s. This is a vary eye appealing cherry since the since of the fruit is reddish, while the flesh is yellowing and the shape is similar to a football. Regarding which is most popular for making the juice, the majority of the tart cherry juice concentrate products on the market are made using the Montmorency or Balaton tart cherries. Now that you are familiar with the more popular types of fruit, let’s learn about the red tart cherry juice concentrate benefits.
Health Benefits of Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate
According to published research from a number of different leading research universities including Michigan State University and Dr. Oz. tart cherry juice offers a number of health benefits including:
Ability to maintain healthy joint function
Helps to soothe sore muscles due to physical exercise
Helps with a healthy night’s sleep
Check out this quick video showing the top benefits:
How does cherry juice concentrate help with joints?
Some of the published research indicates that tart cherries help with joint health, because they contain powerful anthocyanins. Basically they may work the same way as aspirin in the body to help maintain healthy joint function.
Cherry juice for sore muscles
This tangy fruit also helps relieve muscle soreness due to physical exercise. The combination of potassium and anthocyanins may be the reason behind cherry juice for pain relief. In addition, the liquid form of the fruit also provides the body with vital water and counts toward drinking a minimum of 8 glasses of water per day.
Helps with a healthy night’s sleep
Melatonin is naturally produced in the body, however, it is also produced at the base of the brain in the pineal gland. One ounce of Montmorency tart cherry juice concentrate contains approximately 13 nanograms of melatonin. As you can see, this Michigan-grown tangy fruit is packed full of naturally occurring health benefits and the concentrate is simple and easy to use. If you’re looking to make cherry juice at home, all you would need is one ounce of the Fruit Advantage Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate added to 7 ounces of water to make a full eight ounce glass. Stir it all together and enjoy. Also, check out this video below that walks you through step-by-step to enjoying a glass of this tangy drink right in your own home kitchen. As you can see, it’s simple and easy to make of glass and best of all its 100% natural with no added sugar. Each, glass is packed full powerful antioxidants and naturally occurring health benefits for active and healthy lifestyle.