Does tart cherry lower uric acid? The research is mixed. The one randomized controlled trial in people with gout used large doses and found no significant effect on urate. A study of tart cherry juice in overweight adults did see urate fall. And a study of 633 people with gout measured flares, not uric acid. Each one tested something different, which is why they seem to disagree. If someone has told you tart cherry is a sure thing for gout, read this first.
What tart cherry is and how it has been tested
Tart cherry extract provides naturally occurring anthocyanins, the pigments behind the fruit's dark red color. Researchers have tested tart cherry in several forms, at different doses, in different groups of people, and those differences explain most of what follows.
The flare study: 633 people with gout, no dose
In a case-crossover study of 633 people with gout, each person's self-reported cherry intake was compared across periods with and without a flare. Cherry intake was associated with lower odds of a flare: an odds ratio of 0.65 for cherries, 0.55 for cherry extract, and 0.25 when cherry intake was combined with allopurinol (Zhang et al., Arthritis & Rheumatism, 2012, PMID 23023818).
That is a real association in people who actually have gout. The study is observational and relies on people remembering what they ate. It records no milligram amounts, so it can't tell you a dose, and an association like this doesn't show that cherries caused the difference.
The controlled trial: no effect on urate
When tart cherry went through a randomized controlled trial in people with gout, at doses far larger than the 75 mg in Daily Detox®, it had no significant effect on urate (Stamp et al., Rheumatology, 2020, PMID 31891407). This is the most direct test of the question in the headline, and it came back negative. We would rather you read that here than find it later.
The juice study: urate fell, in a different group
A study of tart cherry juice did see urate drop, in overweight adults rather than people with gout (Martin and Coles, Current Developments in Nutrition, 2019, PMID 31037275). Juice is also a different product from a capsule of extract, so the result doesn't carry over cleanly to someone with gout reading a supplement label.
Tart cherry and uric acid: reading the three together
The flare study measured reported flares. The controlled trial measured urate in people with gout and found no significant change, while the juice study found a drop in overweight adults. None of them shows that tart cherry reliably changes uric acid in people with gout, and the one trial built to test that found it didn't.
Where the 480 mg number comes from
The 480 mg figure in tart cherry research comes from exercise recovery, not gout. A meta-analysis supports tart cherry for recovery after exercise, and the main trial behind it used 480 mg a day of powdered extract (Hill et al., PMID 33440334; Levers et al., PMID 26578852). That research says nothing about uric acid.
Where quercetin fits
Quercetin, another ingredient in Daily Detox®, has a different uric acid story. In a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled crossover trial, 22 healthy men whose uric acid sat in the higher but still healthy range took 500 mg of quercetin a day for four weeks. Plasma uric acid fell by 26.5 µmol/L compared with placebo (Shi and Williamson, British Journal of Nutrition, 2016, PMID 26785820). No one in that trial had gout, and Daily Detox® has 400 mg, below the trial dose. The full breakdown is in our quercetin and uric acid post.
What's in Daily Detox®
Daily Detox® has 75 mg of tart cherry extract. That's about a sixth of the 480 mg used in the exercise recovery trial, and well below the doses in the gout trial above. No clinical trial has been run on the finished Daily Detox® formula. The research on this page is on tart cherry, not on the formula.
Frequently asked questions
Does tart cherry lower uric acid?
The evidence is mixed. A randomized controlled trial in people with gout found no significant effect on urate (Stamp et al., 2020, PMID 31891407). A study of tart cherry juice in overweight adults found urate fell (Martin and Coles, 2019, PMID 31037275).
What did the gout flare study find?
In 633 people with gout, self-reported cherry intake was associated with lower odds of a flare, with an odds ratio of 0.65 for cherries and 0.55 for cherry extract (Zhang et al., 2012, PMID 23023818). It recorded no doses, so it can't tell you how much to take.
Can tart cherry replace gout medication?
No. None of these studies tested that. In the flare study, the lowest odds of a flare were in people who combined cherry intake with allopurinol. If you take urate-lowering medication, keep taking it.
Why do the tart cherry studies disagree?
They measured different things in different people: reported flares in people with gout, urate in people with gout, and urate in overweight adults drinking juice.
How much tart cherry is in Daily Detox®?
75 mg of tart cherry extract per serving, about a sixth of the 480 mg used in the exercise recovery research (Levers et al., PMID 26578852).
See the full label
Daily Detox® prints every dose on the tin, eight actives and no proprietary blend, so you can check each one against the research above. Read the Daily Detox® label.
Before you start any supplement: talk to your doctor, especially if you take prescription medication, are pregnant or nursing, or live with a medical condition. If you take urate-lowering medication for gout, keep taking it.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.