1. Fights Damaging Free Radicals
The dark red color of cherries comes from their high concentration of anthocyanins, which are antioxidants. Both sweet and tart cherries supply these beneficial antioxidants, although tart cherries contain more. Antioxidants help prevent cellular damage — the road to cancer, aging and many diseases. That means by eating antioxidant-rich foods like cherries you can replace free radicals in the body before they damage cells. In fact, even the antioxidants found in cherry juice and dried cherries, sweetened and unsweetened, are similar to fresh cherries. While frozen and canned cherries are somewhat lower in antioxidants, they’re still significant, suggests the American Institute for Cancer Research.