Health Benefits of Tart Cherry in Ulcerative Colitis

University of Central Lancashire

Status: Completed

Conditions: Ulcerative Colitis

Treatments: Dietary Supplement: Placebo; Dietary Supplement: Montmorency tart cherry

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05486507

Tart cherry ulcerative colitis

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Enrollment: 40 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 65 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• An established diagnosis of UC for at least 6 months
• Current mild to moderate disease activity
• Age between 18 and 65 years
• Stable use of medication for at least 3 months respectively.

Exclusion criteria

• Diabetes
• HIV
• Hepatitis B and C infection
• Abscesses
• Unstable medical conditions that would likely prevent the subject from completing the study
• Food allergies to cherries.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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40 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Montmorency tart cherry juice

Experimental group

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Montmorency tart cherry

Placebo

Placebo Comparator group

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Placebo