Cranberry extract protects against UTIs

According to new research conducted by the US National Kidney Foundation, one in five women will develop a urinary tract infection during their lifetime, and of these 20% will suffer UTIs on a recurrent basis. The findings, which were published in the most recent edition of Phytomedicine: International Journal of Phytotherapy and Phytopharmacology, are from a program that examined the ability of cranberry extract to ward off such infections.

The study, which was sponsored by Ocean Spray, a North American agricultural cooperative of cranberry growers, showed that women provided with cranberry extract capsules experienced half the number of UTIs that were suffered by those not receiving the supplement. Ocean Spray added that eight participants, who had continued to take cranberry extract for two years after the completion of the trial, had remained free of UTIs.

Researchers conducting the assessment said that proanthocyanidins contained in the extract helped block the adhesion of bacteria responsible for UTIs to the wall of the urinary tract, thereby preventing infection. A second recent study, published in the Journal of Urology, found that cranberry PACs inhibit the colonization of bladder cells by Escherichia coli. In this second trial, in which PACs were directly applied to bladder cells in vitro, the anti-adherence benefit was shown to increase with prolonged exposure to the extract.