Many women drink cranberry juice to prevent and treat the painful symptoms associated with urinary tract infections (UTIs)… and now a review of research from the Cochrane Collaboration adds more evidence that this does, indeed, work. Researchers analyzed the results of several studies that compared cranberry products with a placebo, juice or water and found that cranberries can prevent recurrent UTIs in women, reducing the annual incidence of UTIs by 39%, compared with those who didn’t drink it.
It’s important to realize, however, that cranberry products don’t treat urinary tract infection and also that not all cranberry products work equally well. The sweetened “cranberry cocktail” that is most readily available on the supermarket shelves may, in fact, make matters worse for some women. Here’s what you need to know…
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Ruth Jepson, PhD, a senior research fellow in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Stirling in Scotland and a coauthor of The Cochrane Collaboration study, told me that cranberries seem to prevent bacteria, particularly E. coli, from sticking to the uroepithelial cells that line the wall of the bladder. “Without adhesion, E. coli cannot infect the mucosal surface of the urinary tract,” she said. While adult men also get UTIs, they are about 50 times more common in adult women. “This may be because women have a shorter urethra that allows bacteria to ascend more easily into the bladder,” said Dr. Jepson.
NOT SO SWEET
OK, so cranberries are good, but the number one source of cranberry consumption for most people is sugar-laden cranberry juice cocktail. Is it as effective as the unsweetened kind? That question hasn’t yet been answered, Dr. Jepson told me, noting that some studies used this kind of juice, but with a minimum concentration of 30% cranberries.
For more insight into how women can use cranberry to prevent UTIs, I turned to one of our resident gurus, naturopathic physician Mark Stengler, ND. He told me that one problem with the cranberry cocktail beverages is their sugar content, which can exacerbate vaginal infections if yeast is present… the other issue is that these concoctions may not have much cranberry. “If the cranberry content is diluted, women may not get enough of the proanthocyanidins, which is the compound believed to have the preventive effect,” he explained. Dr. Stengler’s advice: Buy unsweetened “straight” cranberry juice. He suggests that women with a history or susceptibility to UTIs try drinking four ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice diluted in water twice daily, before or with meals. After several months go by in which you haven’t had a UTI, he says you might try reducing intake to two ounces twice daily.
WHAT ELSE HELPS?
Are cranberry capsules effective for women who do not like the taste or cannot tolerate cranberry juice? Dr. Stengler says they work for some, citing a study that found that “daily treatment with an encapsulated cranberry concentrate (400 mg twice per day) for three months significantly reduced the recurrence of urinary tract infections compared with women taking a placebo.” However, Dr. Jepson noted that there isn’t a consistent research finding, since products vary. A physician trained in natural medicine can provide guidance as to what products and dosages would work for you.
