Cranberry & Urinary Tract health info you must know.

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Does cranberry juice help with urinary tract infections?

Cranberry juice is traditionally thought to help prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). However, clinical studies have shown conflicting results and more research is needed to prove conclusively whether cranberries are effective or not.

In the UK, about half of all women will develop a UTI at some time in their life.

The NHS says there is currently little evidence to suggest that drinking cranberry juice significantly reduces the chance of getting UTIs.

How does cranberry juice work?

Originally, it was believed that cranberry juice might be effective against UTIs because it made the urine more acidic, creating a hostile environment for bacteria. That has since been disproved and the latest theory suggests cranberries contain certain sugars and flavanol compounds that stop bacteria from sticking to cells that line the bladder, so preventing infections.

What’s the evidence for whether cranberries are effective?

2010 studies

Research published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, in 2010, looked at 13 studies involving 1,600 people. It found UTIs were 38% less prevalent in people who used cranberry products, compared to those who did not. Cranberry products were found to be more effective in certain people including:

• Women
• Women with recurrent UTIs
• Children
• People who drank cranberry juice
• People who used cranberry products twice daily

While the authors of this study agreed cranberry products may help UTIs, they urged caution over the findings, saying levels of cranberry in certain products differ and the studies they looked at were not carried out in the same way.

2012 Cochrane review

Several reviews on the benefits of cranberry juice for preventing UTIs have been published in the Cochrane Library – an independent resource for high quality medical research.

One 2008 review discovered a small benefit from cranberries in the prevention of recurring UTIs in women. However, a review in 2012 looked at 24 subsequent studies on the subject and concluded current evidence does not support the benefit of cranberries in preventing UTIs. Some benefit isn’t ruled out entirely, but the lead researcher claimed women may need to drink cranberry juice twice a day for a year to possibly prevent one urinary tract infection.

2013 research

Laboratory tests carried out in Canada in 2013 show cranberry powder made from whole cranberries had some success in fighting a bacterium known as proteus mirabilis, that commonly causes UTIs. The problem is that these tests were carried out in a lab and not on humans, so it’s not certain that the same results would apply to people.

Also, tests only looked at one type of bacteria involved in causing UTIs. The study was also co-funded by the Wisconsin Cranberry Board and the Cranberry Institute. This was not made clear when the findings were published and could be regarded as a conflict of interest.http://adf.ly/1k04r9

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