Cherry pie: the cherry research is about juice

The strongest cherry evidence comes from tart cherry juice, concentrate and capsules, and none of it was done on pie. By a meta-analysis of 4 randomized trials in 392 people, tart cherry products lowered serum uric acid by a standardized mean difference of -0.22 (95% CI -0.43 to -0.01), with results that varied a lot between trials. A meta-analysis of 10 randomized trials found C-reactive protein 0.55 mg/L lower (95% CI 0.06 to 1.03), with no effect on IL-6. We found no trial asking whether any of that survives baking, sugar and pastry. What a slice does carry is known from the US food survey. Cherry pie has 311 calories, 15.3 g fat of which 5.3 g saturated, 217 mg sodium and 1.9 g fiber per 3.5 oz (100 g), one averaged recipe, with sodium ranging from 191 to 374 mg between commercial and homemade versions in the older USDA records. A regular slice weighs 5.3 oz (150 g), a small one 75 g and a large one 250 g.

The numbers, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

As people eat it, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

How much is actually in it

• Cherry pie carries about 311 calories, 15.3 g fat (5.3 g saturated) and 217 mg sodium per 3.5 oz (100 g), with 1.9 g fiber. — FNDDS food Pie, cherry (53305000) Evidence E source
  Per 100 g: energy 311 calories; total fat 15.3 g; saturated fat 5.348 g; sodium 217 mg; fiber 1.9 g

What a real portion looks like

• A regular slice of cherry pie weighs about 5.3 oz (150 g), a small slice 75 g and a large slice 250 g. A whole 8-9 inch pie is about 2.6 lb (1.2 kg). — FNDDS portion weights for Pie, cherry, and Cherry pie filling Evidence E source
  Mini slice 75 g; regular slice 150 g; large slice 250 g; individual pie 150 g; 8-9 inch pie 1200 g; 10 inch pie 2000 g; pie filling 1 cup 260 g
• In two-day dietary recalls of 36,378 US adults, cakes and pies ranked among the leading sources of added sugar alongside soft drinks, tea and fruit drinks. — 36,378 adults aged 19 and older, NHANES 2005-2018, two 24-hour recalls (n = 36,378) Evidence C source
  Cakes and pies among the four leading food categories for added sugar
• In US adults, the category of cakes, cookies, quick breads, pastry and pie supplied 7.2% of daily energy, tied with yeast bread as the top source. — 9,490 adults aged 19 and older, NHANES 2003-2006, day 1 recall (n = 9,490) Evidence C source
  Cake/cookies/quick bread/pastry/pie 7.2% of energy

What your body absorbs

• In a human feeding study, a sugar pie meal produced an early insulin release at the start of eating and a significant insulin rise 30 minutes later as blood glucose climbed. — healthy human volunteers fed sugar pie, whipped cream, beef steak or fish fillet Evidence B source
  Early cephalic insulin rise within the first minutes; significant insulin increase at 30 minutes with the sugar pie; glucagon fell after the sugar pie

What cooking and storage change

• Heating juice from two sour cherry varieties for 4 hours at 90 C destroyed 38 to 46 percent of its anthocyanins, against 18 to 19 percent at 70 C. — juice of sour cherry cultivars Erdi botermo and Kantorjanosi 3, heated at 70, 80 and 90 C for 4 h (n = 2 cultivars) Evidence D source
  Anthocyanin loss 38 and 46 percent at 90 C, 29 percent at 80 C, 18 and 19 percent at 70 C
• Making blueberry-filled pastries, from cooking the filling to baking, cut total anthocyanins by 48 to 53 percent, while flavonols lost only 11 to 16 percent. — blueberry filling and pastries prepared by stir-frying the filling and baking Evidence D source
  Total anthocyanins -48 to -53 percent; flavonols -11 to -16 percent; cyanidin -38 to -41 percent, delphinidin -61 to -67 percent

What it does to your health

• By a meta-analysis of 10 randomized trials outside exercise settings, tart cherry lowered plasma CRP by 0.55 mg/L, with no effect on IL-6. — adults in 10 non-exercise randomized trials of tart cherry (n = 10 RCTs) Evidence A source
  CRP WMD -0.55 mg/L (95% CI -1.03 to -0.06); IL-6 WMD 0.08 pg/mL, not significant

Safety, limits and interactions

• The 2025-2030 US Dietary Guidelines say no amount of added sugar is recommended as part of a healthy diet, and one meal should hold no more than 10 g of added sugars. — US general population Evidence E source
  No amount of added sugars recommended; at most 10 g added sugars per meal
• In a randomized Latin-square test in 5 adults, cherry pie was among sugary snacks that significantly lowered plaque pH between the teeth. — five adult panelists, single snack eaten over 2 minutes, plaque pH followed for 2 hours (n = 5) Evidence B source
  Significant fall in interproximal plaque pH after all snacks tested

Who this works differently for

• The 2025-2030 US Dietary Guidelines tell parents to avoid added sugars for babies and children up to age 4, and say no amount of added sugars is recommended for children aged 5 to 10. — infants and children from birth to 10 years Evidence E source
  Birth to 4 years: avoid added sugars; 5 to 10 years: no amount recommended

What is still unknown

• By a meta-analysis of 4 randomized trials in 392 people, tart cherry products modestly lowered serum uric acid, a standardized mean difference of -0.22. — 392 participants in 4 randomized trials (8 comparisons) of tart cherry versus placebo or usual diet (n = 392) Evidence A source
  SMD -0.22 (95% CI -0.43 to -0.01), substantial heterogeneity

The bottom line

Treat it as dessert. In two-day food records from 36,378 US adults, cakes and pies were one of the four leading sources of added sugar alongside soft drinks, tea and fruit drinks. An older survey of 9,490 adults put cakes, cookies, quick breads, pastry and pie together at 7.2% of daily energy, level with bread as the top source. Both figures cover the whole category, with no number for cherry pie alone. In a feeding study, a sugar pie meal triggered an early insulin release as eating began and a significant rise 30 minutes later as blood sugar climbed. That was a sugar pie, the abstract does not say how many people took part, and the study dates from 1996. Heat does cost cherries some of the red pigments the juice studies are about, though we found no measurement made in pie. In a laboratory test, juice from two sour cherry varieties held at 90 C for 4 hours lost 38 to 46 percent of its anthocyanins, against 18 to 19 percent at 70 C. That was juice, and an oven runs hotter for a shorter time, so the loss in a pie filling cannot be read from it. In blueberry pastries, cooking the filling and then baking cut total anthocyanins by 48 to 53 percent, with most of the loss put down to cooking the filling. Neither study measured what reaches the body. The cautions we hold are about added sugar and teeth. The US Dietary Guidelines for 2025 to 2030 say no amount of added sugar is recommended and that one meal should hold no more than 10 g of it. They tell parents to avoid added sugars from birth to age 4, and recommend no amount for children aged 5 to 10. None of this names cherry pie, and our cards give no sugar figure for a slice, so we cannot say how far one goes past that line. In 1990, five adults ate sugary snacks including cherry pie in a randomized order, and after every snack tested the plaque between the teeth turned significantly more acidic. There is no separate number for the pie. We have no card on cherry pie for diabetes, pregnancy or allergy, so this page says nothing about those groups.

Sources

1. chpie-r4-05 · reference dataset
   FNDDS 53305000 Pie, cherry — Energy 311 KCAL · Total lipid (fat) 15.3 G · Fatty acids, total saturated 5.348 G · Sodium, Na 217 MG · Fiber, total dietary 1.9 G per 100 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023 via FoodData Central, fdc_id 2707999 (Pie, cherry, 53305000) · checked 2026-09-29
2. chpie-r4-06 · reference dataset
   FNDDS 53305000 Pie, cherry — 1 mini/small slice 75 g · 1 regular slice 150 g · 1 large slice 250 g · 1 individual pie 150 g · 1 regular pie (8-9" dia) 1200 g · 1 large pie (10" dia plus) 2000 g || FNDDS 63113030 Cherry pie filling — 1 cup 260 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023 via FoodData Central, fdc_id 2707999 (Pie, cherry, 53305000) · checked 2026-09-29
3. chpie-r4-07 · cross-sectional survey analysis
   The leading sources of AS were soft drinks, tea, fruit drinks, and cakes and pies.
   Nutrients, 2024 · checked 2026-09-29
4. chpie-r4-08 · cross-sectional survey analysis
   The highest ranked sources of energy and nutrients among adults more than 19 years old were: energy - yeast bread/rolls (7.2%) and cake/cookies/quick bread/pastry/pie (7.2%)
   Nutrients, 2012 · checked 2026-09-29
5. chpie-r4-04 · randomized feeding study
   Thirty min later due to plasma glucose elevation, a significant increase in insulin was observed with the sugar pie.
   Horm Metab Res, 1996 · checked 2026-09-29
6. chpie-r4-09 · laboratory food chemistry study
   The greatest heat sensitivity of anthocyanins was measured at 90 °C, while the treatments at 80 and 70 °C caused lower thermal degradation. The loss of anthocyanins in Érdi bőtermő juice after treatment was 38, 29 and 18%, respectively, while in Kántorjánosi 3 juice losses of 46, 29 and 19% were observed, respectively.
   Food Technol Biotechnol 2015;53(3):354-360 · checked 2026-09-29
7. chpie-r4-10 · laboratory food chemistry study
   Anthocyanins (48%-53% reduction in total) were more susceptible to thermal processing than flavonols (11%-16%). Among anthocyanins, delphinidin glycosides (61%-67% reduction) were the most unstable, followed by malvidin (52%-58%), petunidin (40%-45%), and cyanidin (38%-41%).
   Food Chem 2019;287:167-175 · checked 2026-09-29
8. chpie-r4-03 · meta-analysis of RCTs
   The results demonstrated that TC had a significant decreasing effect on plasma CRP level compared with the comparison group (weighted mean differences (WMD) = -0.55 mg/L; 95% confidence interval (CI): - 1.03, - 0.06; p = 0.029), but had no significant effect on plasma IL-6 compared with comparison group (WMD = 0.08 pg/mL; 95% CI: -0.02, 0.17; p = 0.10).
   Complement Ther Med, 2022 · checked 2026-09-29
9. chpie-dga-01 · agency guideline
   While no amount of added sugars or non-nutritive sweeteners is recommended or considered part of a healthy or nutritious diet, one meal should contain no more than 10 grams of added sugars.
   USDA/HHS, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 (published 2026-01-07), p. 4 · checked 2026-09-29
10. chpie-r4-01 · randomized crossover trial
    The snacks containing predominantly sucrose (and/or simple sugars) were chocolate bar, cream-filled cupcakes, cream-filled sandwich cookie, cherry pie and raisins. ... Results indicated that both the sugar- and starch-containing snacks tested in this study caused significant decreases in interproximal plaque pH.
    Am J Dent, 1990 · checked 2026-09-29
11. chpie-dga-02 · agency guideline
    Infancy & Early Childhood (Birth–4 Years) ... Avoid added sugars during infancy and early childhood. ... Middle Childhood (5–10 Years) ... No amount of added sugars is recommended.
    USDA/HHS, Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2025-2030 (published 2026-01-07), p. 6-7 · checked 2026-09-29
12. chpie-r4-02 · meta-analysis of RCTs
    Tart cherry intake was associated with a modest reduction in serum uric acid concentration compared with control (standardized mean difference -0.22; 95% confidence interval -0.43 to -0.01), with substantial heterogeneity.
    Asia Pac J Clin Nutr, 2026 · checked 2026-09-29