Sick and tired of the side effects of prescription medication for gout? Here is a natural gout pain relief option that is available to anyone.

A study carried out by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), an arm of the United States Department Of Agriculture has made an amazing discovery.

They found that there are some natural compounds in cherries that reduce inflammation and pain caused by arthritis.

As Gout is a form of arthritis bought about by an excess of uric acid, this study points to a natural way to relieve the debilitating pain of gout symptoms.

The study even goes on to suggest that eating cherries can also reduce the severity of other inflammation causing diseases such as cancer and heart diseases.

ARS is one of the first institutions to scientifically research the effects of cherries in a controlled environment, in this study Bing cherries were used. And this study was interesting as it did not try and analyze extracts from the fruit in a test tube. ARS actually used test subjects - Real people who ate the cherries - and checked the levels of important inflammatory disease or markers in blood samples.

Each person, as part of the test, was fed an exact serving of fresh cherries for breakfast. No other fruits, teas, vegetables, or red wine was allowed prior to and during the study as these foods are also high in anti oxidants, and may have interfered with the results of the study.

To measure the effects of the cherries, they took measurements of the amount of plasma urate, which is basically the level of uric acid in the blood. They also measured the amount of uric acid passed through the kidneys in the test subjects urine.

The results of the test where astonishing. The test subjects' urate levels decreased significantly after the meal of cherries, and levels of uric acid in the urine increased over the first 5 hours after the "bowl of cherries" was eaten.

So, this shows that eating cherries may have a significant effect in the battle against gout symptoms.

Further studies are being conducted into the effects of cherries on other diseases, but the results are promising.

This is great news for anyone suffering from gout and who wants to choose a natural solution to relieve the symptoms of their condition. It reduces the possibility of side effects (unless you are allergic to cherries) and means that not only is the "treatment" good for relieving gout symptoms, but also great for boosting the levels of anti oxidants.