Cranberries are tart berries that are considered a superfruit. They contain a powerful amount of antioxidants, organic and fatty acids, fiber and protein, and all these beneficial properties can be applied to prevent and reduce urinary tract infections.
How Much Cranberry Juice Should I Drink for My Kidneys?
UTIs are a bit of a taboo subject. They can be painful and embarrassing, keeping you awake at night or nervous about leaving the house. And if you have one, you know without a doubt: it’s a urinary tract infection.
Ranked as the second most common infection in the world, urinary tract infections (UTIs) will affect approximately 50 percent of women at some point. The vast majority of infections – between 65 and 85 percent – occur when E. coli bacteria make their way into the urinary tract, attach to the tract wall and multiply.
Traditionally, a course of antibiotics has been the preferred therapy, but increasing concerns about antibiotic-resistant bacteria have prompted both patients and physicians to seek alternative sources of relief.
Personalization is a growing trend in medicine, which fits in well with most alternative treatments: they work best when they can be tailored to the patient. Cranberry-based products are no different, and supplement formulations exist to meet the specific needs of both men and women.
Consuming cranberry juice is an easy way to increase your serving of fruit per day. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recognizes 1 cup of 100% cranberry juice as a 1-cup serving of fruit.
How cranberries can help
Cranberries contain anthocyanidins and proanthocyanidins (PAC), which are tannins that function as a natural defense system against microbes. One theory explaining how cranberries can fight urinary tract infections is that PAC may help prevent bacteria that cause urinary tract infections from sticking to the walls of the bladder and other urinary tracts. If adhesion to the urinary tract tissue is avoided, bacteria have no chance to cause an infection.
Benefits of Cranberry Supplements
It is widely believed that cranberry supplements for urinary tract infections are superior to cranberry juice (or other dietary forms of cranberry). You need an exorbitant amount of cranberry juice to reap the benefits of fighting infections. A single cranberry capsule provides the equivalent of eight ounces of cranberry juice.
How does cranberry juice help women?
About 50 percent of women experience a urinary tract infection, and almost a third of these women experience recurring infections. Women fall into this category if they develop three or more urinary tract infections within a twelve-month period.
Based on seven clinical trials, including one gold standard study that included 176 women ages 18 to 60, researchers found that daily doses of 500 mg of a cranberry supplement called Pacran by Naturex led to a 58 percent reduction. recurrence of a urinary tract infection and delayed the onset of the first urinary tract infection compared to a placebo. Cranberry works because it makes it harder for E. coli bacteria to stick to the urinary tract wall.
To obtain these results, the researchers only enrolled participants who had a history of recurrent urinary tract infections and who were not pregnant or breastfeeding. Furthermore, the studies were randomized and double-blind; half of the women received the cranberry supplement and the other half a placebo.
Cranberries for men
Men can also benefit from cranberries. More than 50 percent of 50-year-olds and 80 percent of 70-year-olds develop an enlarged prostate, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH involves lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) that can cause an overactive or underactive bladder. The signs of an overactive bladder include frequent urination or the urge to urinate, urge incontinence, and urination during sleep. Signs of an underactive bladder include hesitation, weak flow, or the inability to urinate. Men who already have these symptoms can expect them to worsen as they age.
Clinical studies have shown that cranberry supplements can improve LUTS. Researchers enrolled 121 45- to 70-year-old men with moderate bladder symptoms in a double-blind, randomized trial. Using Naturex’s Flowens supplement, the researchers gave one third a daily dose of 250 mg, another third a daily dose of 500 mg and the last third a placebo.
The men, who had also not received treatment for prostate cancer in the previous six months, had the severity of their LUTS levels tested at the start of the study, after 90 days and after 180 days. The severity of their symptoms and the impact on their quality of life were measured using the International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaire – a group of questions widely considered the best assessment tool for BPH-related LUTS.
Based on data collection, 37 percent of men saw improvement in symptoms within a month, and 7 percent saw benefits after the first week. And 96 percent of men tolerated their daily doses well.
The results showed that the men who took the 250 mg daily dose experienced a 25 percent improvement in their symptoms compared to the placebo or their baseline levels. Men on the 500 mg daily dose fared even better: They saw a 38 percent improvement over the placebo group and a 44 percent reduction from their baseline measurement.
The effect was also long-lasting: 71 percent of men taking the 500 mg daily dose reported that their quality of life was significantly improved, 52 percent said they had to urinate less often during the day, 63 percent experienced a reduction in urination during sleep , and 48 percent felt a decrease in the feeling that they had never emptied their bladder after urinating.
While it is clear that antibiotics are effective in treating an active urinary tract infection, they should not be used as a preventive measure, and waiting to treat an infection can drastically affect daily activities and quality of life. Fortunately, it is clear that the natural powers of the cranberry and cranberry-based products are both safe and successful in combating the development of a urinary tract infection or getting relief from symptoms associated with an infection.
Sources
Hisano M, Bruschini H, Nicodemo AC, Srougi M. Cranberries and prevention of lower urinary tract infections. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2012;67(6):661-8. doi: 10.6061/clinics/2012(06)18. PMID: 22760907; PMCID: PMC3370320.