Health Benefits of Tart Cherry in Ulcerative Colitis

Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is a long-term inflammatory condition of the digestive tract. People with UC often have unpredictable and debilitating symptoms, including abdominal pain, diarrhoea and fatigue. In addition, they require long-term treatment with frequent negative effects, the need of surgery and hospitalisations. Therefore, people with UC report a lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL) compared with healthy individuals. The most common medication for inflammatory bowel disease is a strong immunosuppressant which has previously (in 2017) been found to be the most expensive medication prescribed at hospitals in the NHS. Unfortunately, biologics has a lot of negative side effects and thus reducing the need of them in patients can benefit both the NHS as a whole by reducing the cost and improving the quality of life of patients by reducing the unwanted side effects of the biologics. Supplementation of Montmorency tart cherry juice might be a simple, safe, and low-cost intervention for improving symptoms in patients with UC. This is because it has the potential to naturally reduce inflammation in the digestive system and thus improve symptoms. Research in animal models has shown a potential for improvement in physiological responses with similar supplements including blueberries, black raspberries and even Montmorency tart cherries, with only one study in human participants exploring bilberry supplementation.

However, despite anthocyanins concentrations from Montmorency tart cherries being superior to other berries, dietary interventions using tart cherry supplementation for UC have not received any attention in human participants. The primary purpose of the proposed investigation is to undertake a placebo randomized control trial examining the ability of a Montmorency tart cherry juice supplement to provide symptom relief and health related wellbeing outcomes in those with mild to moderately active UC and to understand the biological mechanisms behind any changes in symptoms.