Cranberries Can Prevent, But Not Cure UTIs

The latest issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter hit my doorstep this week and there’s an interesting article, “Rooting for Fruit,” about using our fruit bowls as a medicine chest. Of particular interest to me was the explanation for why cranberries can help prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs)  if consumed regularly.

First some background:  Menopausal women are at greater risk of developing a UTI due to the changes that occur in the bladder as a result of declining estrogen levels.  Half the cases of UTIs are caused by a (P-type E. coli) bacteria, which have little hairy tips called fimbriae. These attach themselves to the bladder so that they multiply and cause an infection.

According to Amy Howell of Rutgers University, the expert source for the Nutrition Action Newsletter article, Cranberries contain proanthocyanidins, which prevent bacteria from sticking to the surfaces of cells on the bladder wall.  “So you can avoid infections by stopping the bacteria from sticking to cells in the bladder and instead just wash them out in the urine.” However, she added that “once the bacteria stick to the bladder wall and start multiplying, patients need antibiotics.”

Apparently, you need to drink one to two glasses of a cranberry juice cocktail daily for it to have any preventative effect.  Dried cranberries and even cranberry sauce work just as well, Howell explained,  but not cranberry pills “since you don’t know how much proanthocyanidin is in them or whether they’re rendered inactive by improper storage or processing.”

You’ll need to choose a brand that contains as much cranberry juice as other juices that it is mixed with.

I have been a subscriber to the Nutrition Action Newsletter for years and highly recommend it. It is published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an independent non-profit consumer health group.  They advocate honest food labeling and advertising, safer and more nutritious foods, and they accept no government or industry funding!