Blackberries: A Historical Folk Remedy for Gout
Gout has been around longer than humankind. Medical pathologists have seen evidence of Gout in dinosaur fossils, according to some sources. Even vultures are known to suffer from the effects of “the Gout“.
Romans coined the term Podagra (from “pod”, meaning foot, and “agra” which roughly translates to “trap”), but even in the prior era of (bronze age) classical Greece, writers were documenting the effects of this crushingly-painful arthritic condition.
In recent years we know that many lay-people (and some doctors, even!) recommend dark, or tart cherry juice as a folk remedy to ward off attacks of Gout, but in ancient Greece the fruit of choice was the humble blackberry.
The blackberry is a bundle of tiny juicy sacks all clustered together around a solid white core. It is similar in shape to the raspberry and is often confused with the Black Raspberry, but it is actually smaller. Raspberries also lack the Blackberry’s solid core and are hollow inside once picked.
While there are no studies we are aware of touting Blackberries as a “Gout-Fighting Superfruit” it is an interesting historical footnote. On the other hand, we know of nothing in the medical literature claiming that these succulent little berries are in any way harmful to Gout sufferers, either.
So, if you are inclined, give the Blackberry a try, and let us know what you think.
