With so much talk about berries and their antioxidant power, the cherry has gotten lost in the berry shuffle over the last few years. Hard to believe, especially considering the cherry was often injected into verbal pleas for favors not so long ago (Do kids still use the “Pretty please with a cherry on top?” line we used to use on our parents as kids?).

But that’s all about to change now that the cherry – the tart cherry, specifically – is today considered one of the world’s most super-de-duper superfruits.

I’ve mentioned anthocyanins a lot in my past articles – most recently regarding the high amount of it found in vegetables like cabbage. What I’ve neglected to mention when it pertains to anthocyanins are cherries. They’re LOADED with them. Compared to other fruits rich in anthocyanins, cherries – again, tart cherries – are the most abundant source, more than strawberries, blueberries or raspberries.

But it’s not anthocyanins that I wish to speak about in this here article. Or the fact that tart cherries reduce the risk of heart disease. And diabetes. And inflammation. Or that they prevent memory loss. Or that they encourage quality sleep due to the high amounts of melatonin they contain (Trust me, I could go on).

No, I wish to talk about belly fat, as belly fat is one of the most difficult things to get rid of when people lose weight. It’s too bad that this is the case because belly fat – more than any other fat in the body – is the most serious kind of fat. Research suggests that belly fat is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and inflammation.

But a new University of Michigan study on overweight rats shows that tart cherries reduces weight gain, particularly around the waist area.

Researchers discovered this after feeding two groups of rats either a diet high in fat with moderate amounts of carbohydrates – reminiscent of the ‘Western diet’ making health headlines lately – or a diet low in fat but high in carbohydrates. To test tart cherries impact on their weight, some of the rats from each group were supplemented with whole tart cherry powder in limited amounts (approximately 1 percent of their diet was tart cherry powder).

After 12 weeks, both groups of rats displayed negative health effects as a result of their eating plans…except for those that had whole tart cherries as part of their diet. For instance, the rats on the low fat, high carbohydrate diet increased their blood triglyceride levels, but those levels were reduced among the cherry-fed rats.

Other findings showed that among the ‘Western diet’ rats, their body fat composition was an average of 63 percent. But among the ‘Western diet’ rats fed the whole tart cherry, their body fat composition was an average of 54 percent. The researchers said that the rats lost the most amount of weight around their waistline. Cholesterol levels and inflammation markers were also significantly reduced among the cherry-fed rats. Inflammation is a prime risk factor for heart disease and other health-related issues like obesity.

The researchers are confident this study will lead to follow-ups regarding the overall effectiveness of tart cherries’ impact on people’s waistlines, not to mention their impact on diminishing the risk of heart disease.