
Addition of cranberry to proton pump inhibitor-based triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication. Cranberry and its phytochemicals: A review of in vitro anticancer studies. Cranberries for preventing urinary tract infections. fdc-app.html#/food-details/168117/nutrients Chronic consumption of a low-calorie, high-polyphenol cranberry beverage attenuates inflammation and improves glucoregulation and HDL cholesterol in healthy overweight humans: A randomized controlled trial. about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/diet/antioxidants-fact-sheet Anticancer activities of cranberry phytochemicals: An update. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy. “We do need something better.Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. “People want something that doesn’t lead to antibiotic resistance and empowers women to care for their UTIs,” she said. Gupta, who acknowledges the mixed research results, remains concerned about the use of antibiotics as a preventive treatment. Juthani-Mehta encourages postmenopausal women to stay hydrated and even to discuss with their physicians whether to use estrogen cream, which has shown some efficacy in reducing UTIs.ĭr. Postmenopausal women are particularly at risk for UTIs because of hormone depletion, which can leave the bladder more vulnerable to bacteria. Even so, the new JAMA study, which included a very high and standardized dose, showed no effect. Many researchers believe that if cranberry has some protective effect, the amount needed would be so great as to be impractical for a wholesale recommendation. She has studied cranberries and UTI rates in college-age women (no reduction) as well as in a specialized group: post-gynecological surgery patients with urinary catheters, who had a 50 percent reduction rate.Ĭapsules are easier, but are not regulated, so dosing is inexact. One problem with some studies, say critics, has been compliance: “It’s hard to drink that much cranberry juice,” said Dr. Spermicide, she said, can exacerbate the condition, because it can get rid of “good bacteria,” allowing the bacteria that cause UTIs to predominate.Ĭranberry juice in its earliest, purest form was far more astringent than the version now sold commercially. Kalpana Gupta, a professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and an expert on UTIs in women of reproductive age, explained that sex “promotes the movement of bacteria into the urethra.” Women, she added, “have a short urethra, compared to men, so once bacteria get there, they easily can go to the bladder.” The risk factors in younger women include sexual activity and the use of spermicide. Older men, too, may be susceptible, because of problems associated with enlarged prostates. Older women, particularly those over 65 and frail enough to require nursing home care, can seem asymptomatic, but have fever, fatigue and malaise.

In women of reproductive age, symptoms include a frequent need for urination and devastating pain while doing so. She concluded, “It is time to move on from cranberries.”īy some estimates, at least 50 percent of women will have at least one urinary tract infection over a lifetime. “I’m not sure it’s worth spending money on, particularly for patients on a fixed income, ” she said.

Manisha Juthani-Mehta, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale School of Medicine, and the lead author of a study published Thursday in the journal JAMA, which showed no reduction in urinary tract infections for female nursing home patients who took standardized, high-dose cranberry capsules - the equivalent of 20 ounces of juice daily - for a year. Sometimes doctors just recommend rest and ibuprofen. The gold standard for treatment is antibiotics. While some studies suggest that cranberry may reduce repeated infections in younger women, it is certainly not a treatment for an active case. This purported remedy is centuries old and there is a considerable amount of research investigating it.

Misconception: Drinking buckets of cranberry juice can cure, and even prevent bladder, infections.Īctually: You may enjoy the taste (see: vodka) but it won’t cure and, probably, won’t prevent recurrence.
