They’re not only super yummy to add to your breakfast or as a mid-afternoon sweet snack. Cranberries have quite strong activity to help you treat and prevent UTIs.
Are you curious how? Let’s have a closer look!
Where? What? How?
Vaccinium macrocarpon or cranberry is native to the bog forests of North America and Canada. The juice of this red berry has long been used by the Indians for healing wounds, better oral hygiene and against kidney and bladder infections.
The main active ingredients in cranberries are the polyphenols PACs type 1 (A) (proanthocyanidins), tannins, vit C, fructose and D-mannose.
Most bacteria have small projections (pili and fimbriae) on their membrane. With these, bacteria not only move but also fix themselves, for example on the inside walls of the urethra, bladder and kidneys.
—> Cranberry type 1 proanthocyanidins, like D-mannose, have the property of immobilizing the pili of the bacteria E. coli so that they move less quickly and cannot cling to our tissues.
—> Fructose in turn binds to the fimbriae type 1 of the more virulent E. coli bacteria, and these are often the culprits of chronic urinary infections. As a result, these bacteria can no longer bind to the glycosphingolipids of the renal cell membranes. In this way, the bacteria can be more easily flushed out with the urine.
—> The relatively high concentration of vit. C (ascorbic acid 200 mg/kg) makes the urine more acidic and less suitable for the growth of bacteria.
Altogether, cranberries are very suitable to help prevent and treat recurrent UTIs due to E. coli, the most common bacteria in chronic urinary infections, without side effects.
REFERENCES
Review: Cranberry proanthocyanidins and the maintenance of urinary tract health. Amy B Howell 1Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2002;42(3 Suppl):273-8.
Bioactive compounds in cranberries and their role in prevention of urinary tract infections.Howell AB. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2007 Jun;51(6):732-7.
In Vivo Consumption of Cranberry Exerts ex Vivo Antiadhesive Activity against FimH-Dominated Uropathogenic Escherichia coli: A Combined in Vivo, ex Vivo, and in Vitro Study of an Extract from Vaccinium macrocarpon. Rafsanjany N, Senker J, Brandt S, Dobrindt U, Hensel A. J Agric Food Chem. 2015 Oct 14;63(40):8804-18.
A-type cranberry proanthocyanidins and uropathogenic bacterial anti-adhesion activity. Howell AB, Reed JD, Krueger CG, Winterbottom R, Cunningham DG, Leahy M. Phytochemistry. 2005 Sep;66(18):2281-91.
Cranberry Consumption Against Urinary Tract Infections: Clinical Stateof- the-Art and Future Perspectives. Mantzorou M, Giaginis C. Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2018;19(13):1049-1063.
Cranberries and lower urinary tract infection prevention. Marcelo Hisano,I Homero Bruschini,I Antonio Carlos Nicodemo,II and Miguel SrougiI Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2012 Jun; 67(6): 661–667.
Zafriri D, Ofek I, Adar R, Pocino M, Sharon N. Inhibitory activity of cranberry juice on adherence of type 1 and type P fimbriated Escherichia coli to eucaryotic cells. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 1989;33(1):92–8