Anti-inflammatory properties
One wonderful health benefit of the cherry is that they are one of the most effective foods when it comes to anti-inflammatory properties. This means that they can be very useful to consume when you have a variety of different medical conditions, one such being arthritis. The reason that cherries are such an effective anti-inflammatory is due to the anthocyanins that they contain. Studies have shown that this prevents the damage caused by free radicals, as well as hindering certain enzymes better than prescribed drugs.
High vitamin C content
Cherries hold a high amount of vitamin C, in fact just 100 grams of raw sweet cherry can provide you with 7 milligrams which is 12 % of the total vitamin C your body requires in a day. This is the richest nutrient that the cherry boasts, although it can also provide you with a dose of various other vitamins and minerals such as potassium, manganese, vitamin K and magnesium. There are various benefits that the body can obtain from making sure that it is provided with a relevant amount of vitamin C, these include it being a powerful antioxidant, and also that it helps to keep your immune system healthy. For those that don't know, antioxidants help to eliminate free radicals that are responsible for causing diseases such as cancer. This is one of the most poignant cherry health benefits to speak of.
Very few calories in cherries
So we know that cherries are nutritious, but how many calories are in cherries? Well one cherry healthy benefit is that going to be of interest to those on diets and who like to watch their calorie intake, is the fact that there are very few calories in cherries. In a 100 gram serving of raw sweet cherries there are only 63 calories, which is next to nothing. Just one raw cherry has only 5 calories in it, this makes the cherry an incredibly appealing diet food, especially considering it is a natural fruit crammed full of nutrients.
These health benefits of cherries are accompanied by the fact that the cherry is high in water and low in fat, two factors that make them even more appealing.
By Steve D Wright
