There are 87 calories in one cup of fresh sweet whole cherries. 22 g of carbohydrate, 2.9 g of fiber, 1.46 g of protein and 0.3 g of fat, making the calorie composition approximately 90 percent carbohydrate, 7 percent protein and 3 percent fat. Cherries contain no sodium or cholesterol and only a trace of saturated fat.
Sweet cherries are rich source of vitamins, Vitamins A, E and K, and all of the B vitamins except vitamin B12 are present in it. They are a great source of vitamin C but have smaller amounts between 1 and 4 percent DV of all the other vitamins. These are also great if you’re watching your salt consumption, because they only have 5mg of sodium, which is too small to be significant. Cherries supply 5 percent of both copper and manganese, and 4 percent of magnesium. They are also a good source of minerals such as potassium, iron, and zinc. Potassium is a heart-healthy mineral; an important component of cell and body fluids that regulate heart rate and blood pressure.
A typical “serving” of cherries consists of one maraschino on top of a dessert. One maraschino only has 8 calories, 1 percent DV of total carbohydrates and 2g of sugar. On the down side, maraschinos provide no nutrition. They have traces of a few minerals and vitamins, but not enough to register as a percent of daily value. It takes about 30 maraschino cherries to equal the 1 cup serving size used for sweet cherries. If you ate that many, you’d consume 240 calories, 60g of sugar, 30 percent of daily carbohydrates and receive no nutritional benefit.
Scientifically it proves that the cherries are found to act like anti-inflammatory agents by blocking the actions of cycloxygenase-1 and 2 enzymes. Thus consumption of cherries has potential health effects against chronic painful episodes such as gout arthritis, painful muscle condition and sports injuries.
