Drug & supplement interaction

Sour Cherry + Tofacitinib

Tofacitinib brand names: Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR.

No Known Interaction
The bottom line No known interaction

We found no known interaction between Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib in our sources. Absence of a documented interaction is not the same as proven safety, and does not guarantee one does not exist. Do not start, stop, or change a medication or supplement based on this page; confirm with your pharmacist or doctor first. Additionally, although there is no interaction, the two are separately associated with some of the same side effects, which would make a new symptom harder to attribute to one or the other.

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Interaction report

Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib

We checked these two against our interaction database. Here is what we found.

No Known Interaction Found

We did not find a documented interaction between Tofacitinib and Sour Cherry in our sources. This does not guarantee that the combination is completely free of risk — there is often limited research on supplements and herbal products, especially around drug interactions.

Worth understanding: our licensed dataset holds no drug-interaction record for Sour Cherry at all — not against Tofacitinib, and not against any other medication we track. This verdict therefore rests on the absence of any recorded data, not on research that looked at this combination and found nothing. We cannot rule an interaction out.

If you decide to take both, the practical routine is simple: add one new thing at a time and note the date you started it. If the combination is going to disagree with you, it usually shows in the first days to a couple of weeks — and a start date turns “I’ve been feeling off” into something a pharmacist can actually work with. Do not stop a prescribed medicine on your own.

Always talk with your pharmacist or doctor before making changes to your medications or supplements, particularly if you take several medications or have an ongoing health condition.

Sour Cherry safety at a glance

Sour Cherry overall Use caution Generally well tolerated as a food, but concentrated products are less studied.
Pregnancy Likely Safe When the fruit is consumed in typical food amounts. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of tart cherry fruit or stem when used... Read the full pregnancy detail
Breastfeeding Likely Safe When the fruit is consumed in typical food amounts. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of tart cherry fruit or stem when used... Read the full breastfeeding detail

Pregnancy & breastfeeding ratings are from Natural Medicines (Therapeutic Research Center) — the full detail is in the Special populations card below. Safety guidance is general; always confirm with your pharmacist or doctor for your situation.

Still wondering about combining Tofacitinib and Sour Cherry? Ask Dr. Brian Staiger, PharmD, BCPS directly ›
What to actually watch for

No Interaction Found — But Data Suggests Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib May Share a Side Effect

This is not an interaction. Neither one changes how your body handles the other, and nothing here says they react together. What our sources do show is that each has separately been linked to the effects below — so taking both can make those effects more likely to turn up, and harder to pin on one or the other if they do.

  • Diarrhea Additional detail

    Sour Cherry

    “In a clinical study, 29% of children who consumed 75 mL of tart cherry juice concentrate twice daily for 2 weeks reported abdominal pain. Two cases of loose stools after consumption of 90 whole tart cherries, and one case of gastrointestinal disturbance after drinking 10.5 ounces of tart cherry concentrate (Cherrish, Cherrish Corp.) twice daily for 14 days have been reported.”

    Sour Cherry · Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, reported in pain.

    4 sources cited
    1. 112815. Soltanifar A, Moharreri F, Bakhtiari E, Hosseinpour A. The Effect of Adding Sour Cherry Concentrate to The Usual Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In 6 To 12 Years Old Children. J Atten Disord 2023;27(2):214-219. PubMed
    2. 93186. Seymour EM, Warber SM, Kirakosyan A, et al. Anthocyanin pharmacokinetics and dose-dependent plasma antioxidant pharmacodynamics following whole tart cherry intake in healthy humans. J Funct Food 2014;11:509-16. DOI
    3. 93192. Elliot DL, Kuehl KS, Jones KD, Dulacki K. Using an eccentric exercise-testing protocol to assess the beneficial effects of tart cherry juice in fibromyalgia patients. Integ Med 2010;9(6):25-9.
    4. 93160. Schumacher HR, Pullman-Mooar S, Gupta SR, et al. Randomized double-blind crossover study of the efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2013;21(8):1035-41. PubMed

    Tofacitinib

    Listed in the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of the FDA label for Tofacitinib. Read the label on DailyMed ›

Reported for Sour Cherry but not commonly for Tofacitinib: stomach upset, stomach pain and tiredness.

Effects for Tofacitinib come from the ADVERSE REACTIONS section of its FDA label; effects for Sour Cherry come from the Natural Medicines adverse-effect record, quoted above. Where a percentage is shown, it is the share of 185,980 voluntary FDA FAERS reports for Tofacitinib that mention that effect — a reporting proportion, not an incidence rate and not evidence the drug caused it. Wording is matched across sources by our own clinical vocabulary, so treat this as a prompt to pay attention, not a diagnosis.

Special populations

Sour Cherry in Pregnancy & Breastfeeding

Pregnancy And Lactation Likely Safe

When the fruit is consumed in typical food amounts. There is insufficient reliable information available about the safety of tart cherry fruit or stem when used in medicinal amounts; avoid using.

DISCLAIMER: This tool is intended for informational purposes only, and should not be interpreted as specific medical advice. Patients should consult with a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about therapies and/or health conditions.© 2026 Therapeutic Research Center

Overlapping uses

What Tofacitinib Is Prescribed For, and What Sour Cherry Has Been Studied For

These two come up together because they touch the same health topic — not because they do the same job. Tofacitinib is a prescription medicine with approved uses on its FDA label. Sour Cherry is a supplement: what follows is what researchers have looked at it for, and how strong that evidence is.

Sour Cherry has been studied for:

  • Ulcerative colitis studied, not established Sour Cherry has been studied for this. Natural Medicines rates the evidence: Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate Read what the research shows

    Sour Cherry for ulcerative colitis

    It is unclear if oral tart cherry is beneficial in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC).

Effectiveness ratings and the research summaries above are the verbatim record from the Natural Medicines database, which grades evidence from “Effective” down to “Insufficient Reliable Evidence To Rate”. A rating below the top of that scale means researchers have looked at it — not that it works, and never that it can stand in for a prescribed medicine. Do not stop or replace Tofacitinib on your own; if you are taking Sour Cherry for the same health topic, tell your prescriber, especially if the medicine is being adjusted to a target.

Everything else you take

See Every Supplement That Interacts With Tofacitinib

This page covers Sour Cherry only. If you take other supplements — a multivitamin, a sleep aid, something for joints — the Tofacitinib page lists 184 supplements it has a documented interaction with, worst first, each one explained.

The most serious there right now: Activated Charcoal (major), Grapefruit (major), St. John's Wort (major), Acacia Rigidula (moderate) and Active Hexose Correlated Compound (ahcc) (moderate).

By severity: 3 major · 143 moderate · 38 minor.

From our pharmacist’s overview on the Tofacitinib page

“Supplements deserve genuine care alongside tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR), a medicine that deliberately dials down the immune system to control conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis. Most of the interactions on this page run through the liver enzymes that clear the drug, meaning an herb can push its blood level…”

Reviewed by 2 · Jul 18, 2026

Open the Tofacitinib interaction page

One more smart check

Taking Sour Cherry as Part of a Dietary Supplement Product? Check It for Interactions

We hold 1,479 real supplement products containing Sour Cherry, each one broken down to its full ingredient list — and combination products often carry several ingredients besides Sour Cherry. Even though Sour Cherry itself has no known interaction with Tofacitinib, another ingredient on your label might. Find your product and we’ll check every ingredient on its label:

How much people look this up

Where Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib Sit Against Everything Else

Out of every supplement and medication people look up on HelloPharmacist, here is where these two land this week — and which way each has been moving.

Supplement Sour Cherry
Top 25%

#184 of 1,452 supplements looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today
Medication Tofacitinib
Steady interest

#1,746 of 2,830 medications looked up here in the last 7 days

29 days ago today

Position among everything looked up on this site, not a measure of how commonly either one is used or how important it is. A supplement can climb this list because of a news story. It counts every request to the page, automated ones included, and nothing here identifies anyone.

Where does our data come from?
  • Source: the Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) clinical database — the evidence-graded professional reference for herb & supplement interactions.
  • Citation library: 103,510 references behind our interaction content, 65,311 of them resolved to verified PubMed/DOI sources. See every Sour Cherry reference on this page ↓
  • Freshness: we automatically re-check this combination every week — this pair was last verified September 20, 2026. The Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib records this page draws on were last updated July 10, 2026.
  • What “no known interaction” means: no documented interaction in the sources above — not a guarantee of safety. Supplements are studied far less than prescription drugs, so we say exactly what the evidence supports, and nothing more.
Data structure & sourcing designed and verified by .
Supplement

About Sour Cherry

What is Sour Cherry?

  • Muscle soreness after exercise
  • Gout and joint discomfort
  • Sleep support
  • Arthritis pain
  • General antioxidant support

Sour cherry (often sold as tart cherry or Montmorency cherry) is a fruit-based supplement rich in antioxidants that people use for muscle recovery, joint and gout symptoms, and sleep. Early research is promising but limited, so it is not a proven treatment. It is generally well tolerated as a food, but talk to your pharmacist or doctor before using concentrated products.

Prunus cerasus · Rosaceae · Fruit (and fruit juice or concentrate) · Juice, concentrate, capsules, powder, dried fruit, extract

An interaction check asks whether these two react with each other — it does not ask whether Sour Cherry is a good idea for someone in your situation. Here is what our Sour Cherry record says about it on its own.

Sour Cherry: dosing

There is no official or standardized dose for sour cherry supplements. Studies have used different forms and amounts, including juice, concentrate, and capsules, so there is no single agreed-upon dose.The best approach is to follow the directions on the product label and not exceed them.

From our Sour Cherry monograph — the full record covers uses, side effects and every documented interaction.

Read the full Sour Cherry monograph & all interactions
Medication

About Tofacitinib

What Is Tofacitinib Used For?

Brand names: Xeljanz, Xeljanz XR

  • Tofacitinib is used alone or with other medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis (condition in which the body attacks its own joints causing pain, swelling, and loss of function) in adults who are unable to take or did not respond to one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor medication(s). It is also used to treat psoriatic arthritis (a condition that causes joint pain and swelling and scales on the skin) in adults who are unable to take or did not respond to or tolerate one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). Tofacitinib is used to treat ulcerative colitis (a condition which causes swelling and sores in the lining of the colon [large intestine] and rectum) in adults who are unable to take or who did not respond to one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). It is also used to treat polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (PJIA; a type of childhood arthritis that affects five or more joints during the first six months of the condition, causing pain, swelling, and loss of function) in children 2 years and older who are unable to take or who did not respond to one or more TNF inhibitor medication(s). Tofacitinib is in a class of medications called Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors. It works by decreasing the activity of the immune system.

See full Tofacitinib drug information
Keep checking

Other Drugs & Sour Cherry

Browse every other medication we’ve checked against Sour Cherry — both the ones with a known interaction and the ones without. Select any drug for the full detail.

0Major
0Moderate
0Minor
2,829No known interaction
No interaction 2,829 drugs checked — show the list
Evidence & sources

Sour Cherry References

The 4 references that drive our Sour Cherry monograph and interaction data, from the evidence-graded Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare) database. Citations with a link open the study on PubMed or the publisher’s site.

  1. Schumacher HR, Pullman-Mooar S, Gupta SR, et al. Randomized double-blind crossover study of the efficacy of a tart cherry juice blend in treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. Osteoarthritis Cartilage 2013;21(8):1035-41. PubMed
  2. Seymour EM, Warber SM, Kirakosyan A, et al. Anthocyanin pharmacokinetics and dose-dependent plasma antioxidant pharmacodynamics following whole tart cherry intake in healthy humans. J Funct Food 2014;11:509-16. DOI
  3. Elliot DL, Kuehl KS, Jones KD, Dulacki K. Using an eccentric exercise-testing protocol to assess the beneficial effects of tart cherry juice in fibromyalgia patients. Integ Med 2010;9(6):25-9.
  4. Soltanifar A, Moharreri F, Bakhtiari E, Hosseinpour A. The Effect of Adding Sour Cherry Concentrate to The Usual Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder In 6 To 12 Years Old Children. J Atten Disord 2023;27(2):214-219. PubMed

Medication overviews come from MedlinePlus (NIH); supplement label data from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database. Content is written and reviewed by licensed HelloPharmacist pharmacists — see our data sources and editorial standards.

Pharmacist Counseling Corner

Taking Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib Together: Common Questions

Is it safe to take Sour Cherry with Tofacitinib?
We do not list a known interaction between Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib. That does not guarantee the combination is risk-free, so confirm with your pharmacist or doctor — especially if you take other medications or have a health condition.
Do Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib have any of the same side effects?
Yes — our sources link each of them separately to one of the same effects. That is not an interaction: neither changes how your body handles the other. It does mean that if one of those effects turns up, it can be harder to tell which one is behind it. They are listed on this page with the source behind each.
Are Sour Cherry and Tofacitinib used for the same thing?
They overlap in purpose, which usually means the real question is whether you need both rather than whether they are safe together. This page lists the shared uses and how strong the evidence is for Sour Cherry in each. That is a conversation for your prescriber, especially if Tofacitinib is being adjusted to a target.
Does Tofacitinib interact with any supplements?
Yes. Tofacitinib has documented interactions with 184 supplements in our database — Sour Cherry is not one of them. The Tofacitinib interaction page linked on this page lists every one, ranked by severity.

Written and reviewed by the HelloPharmacist editorial staff. Our editorial policy

Still Have a Question About Tofacitinib and Sour Cherry?

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This information is for education only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always check with your pharmacist or doctor before starting, stopping, or combining supplements and medications.