The name cranberry comes from its original name, “cranberry”, because the cranberry’s flowers resemble the head and beak of a crane.
For the Indian tribes of North America, cranberries represented nutrition and health, and they used dried venison mixed with cranberry pomace and oil to make cakes, and cranberries were often applied to wounds to absorb arrow poison.
In colonial times, wild cranberries were one of the first products to be exported to England from the “New World”. Sailors kept cranberries on board to prevent scurvy caused by a lack of vitamin C. In 1677, the government of the New England colony sent three famous North American products to King Charles II, including two large barrels of Indian corn, 3,000 cod fish and three large barrels of cranberries. However, after a long voyage, the cod and the corn decayed, and only the cranberries were presented to the King in their fresh and original state, which made them famous.
Today, cranberries have become an indispensable accompaniment to meals and an everyday eating companion in American households. Since 1962, turkey with cranberry sauce has been the Thanksgiving food of American families. Cranberry juice drinks are a must-have in American refrigerators.
Urinary tract guardian
If you’ve ever had a urinary tract infection – and if you’ve had one you must know – you should understand that it’s not a good thing. A urinary tract infection is a serious health problem and very common. (It’s the second most common infection in the body.) Although women are more likely to get it than men, that doesn’t mean men won’t get it. For example. An enlarged thyroid gland can slow the flow of stool fluid and increase the likelihood of infection. What to do? What to do?
For many years, people thought cranberry juice worked wonders, at least in the short term. When I was in college, I didn’t think about my future with nutrition, and I remember when girls would suggest to each other “more cranberry juice” when they noticed a painful urinary tract infection. Decades later, this folk remedy, like most small folk remedies, has been proven to have a scientific basis. Many studies have proven that the substances in cranberries and cranberry juice can help protect the urinary tract from bacteria.
Here’s the science behind cranberries: urine is generally sterile, but sometimes, some small digestive tract bacteria can get to the urethra. Then they start multiplying – and bacteria love to multiply. That way, the infection is an arrow in the air. (If it’s just an infection in the urethra, it’s called a UTI; if it moves up to the bladder, then it’s called a cystitis, and the infection can also move up to the ureter and kidneys and be called pyelonephritis, but this is very different.)
When nature designed the urinary tract, the defense system was designed in such a way that the urine would flush out the bacteria on its own. But like all defense systems, it sometimes fails, and the result is a urinary tract infection. Well, it often fails.
In 1999, urinary tract infections sent 8 million people running to the hospital; according to the 1988 to 1994 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 34 percent of adults over age 20 had at least one urinary tract infection.
Cranberry to the rescue
Cranberries contain phytochemicals called proanthocyanidins, and it is probably because of this substance that cranberries have a positive healing effect on urinary tract infections. The main bacteria in urinary tract infections are the common common E. coli. Amy Howell, of the Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research at Rutgers University, said that cranberries have a positive effect on urinary tract infections. Amy Howell, PhD, of the Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research at Rutgers University, and Jess Reed, a professor of nutrition at the University of Wisconsin-Maxon, have shown positive effects on urinary tract infections. They found that eight servings of cranberry juice allowed the volunteers’ bladder cells to rid themselves of E. coli bacteria. Interestingly, equal amounts of grape juice, apple juice, green tea and chocolate – all containing high levels of proanthocyanidins or related substances – did not achieve the cranberry effect.
”Cranberry proanthocyanidins are not the same structure as the proanthocyanidins found in other foods, which may be why cranberries have an anti-bacterial adherence and urinary tract protection effect that other foods do not.” Howell said.
Best of all, recent research has pointed the way toward using cranberries to prevent urinary tract infections. a study published in the British Medical Journal in 2001 found that the risk of urinary tract infections was 20 percent smaller for women if they drank cranberry juice consistently for up to a year. Another study found that drinking cranberry juice or taking cranberry extract kept urinary tract infections from recurring for many people.
”Cranberries appear to be effective, safe, healthy and well-tolerated in preventing urinary tract infections. The latest study found no safety issues with continued cranberry use for 12 months, and it was also more effective.” Darren M. Lynch, M.D., Ph. Lynch (Darren M. Lynch) writes in the peer-reviewed journal American Fanuly Physician.
Healing Nutrition in the Plant Kingdom
Ann L. Lewis Louise Gittelman Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman is known as the “First Lady of Nutrition” and the author of the Fat Flush Plan. She has been preaching the benefits of diluted, unsweetened cranberry juice for (what?) 10 years. . She points out that cranberry juice contains many beneficial phytonutrients, such as anthocyanins, catechols, lutein (the star of eye health) and quercetin (one of the most powerful anti-inflammatory substances in the plant kingdom). These phytonutrients are antioxidants and, according to Gitelman, they also provide nutrients to the body’s detoxification channels.
The utility of the rich nutrients contained in cranberries and cranberry juice has been confirmed by numerous studies, and their benefits to the body may not be limited to the prevention of urinary tract infections. Dr. Yuegang Zuo, a biochemist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, studied the chemicals contained in cranberries and confirmed that cranberry juice contains the highest levels of phenols of any of the 20 fruit juices. (Phenolic compounds are natural antioxidants. They help neutralize free radicals in the body and prevent them from causing damage to the body, which can lead to many chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.)
Dr. Left and his research team declared, “Cranberries had the strongest anti-free radical capacity of the fruits chosen for the study.” Better yet, Catherine Nero, an associate professor at Massachusetts State University Dartmouth (Catherine Nero), PhD, found that some substances in cranberries are toxic to cancer cells. “These substances have an inhibitory effect on tumor cells located in the lungs, the neck, prostate, breast and blood.”
Cranberry is effective in preventing urinary tract infections by preventing bacteria from adhering to the walls of the urinary tract. Recently, it has been found that cranberries contain a special compound, concentrated tannic acid, which, in addition to its common function of preventing urinary tract infections, can effectively inhibit the attachment of Helicobacter pylori to the gastrointestinal tract and prevent bacteria from attaching to the mouth and teeth, thus preventing the occurrence of stomach ulcers and oral and dental diseases.
The debate over dosage
In studies of urinary tract infections, the dosage and formulation of cranberry juice varies from study to study. Some researchers say that we may not know what the optimal dose is． That’s what I think, too. Gitelman’s formula is one serving of unsweetened cranberry juice diluted with 3 to 4 parts water and then drunk as water．
In one particularly influential study, the researchers used a dose of 226.8 grams of unsweetened cranberry juice, 3 cups per day. Or l tablet of cranberry extract concentrate (300 to 400 mg) twice a day. I can’t conclude with too much certainty, but I don’t think it’s a big deal if you don’t drink enough for 3 cups a day, because unsweetened cranberry juice is healthy though. But it is really quite bitter.
Bitter or not, it’s the unsweetened kind that you should drink. Most “cranberry drinks” are full of sugar, while the content of pure cranberry juice is less than 10%. Buy pure juice. Dilute it first, then drink it, sweeten it with stevia or xylitol if you need to, and you’ll be able to fully absorb the restorative power of nature’s cranberries.
Won’t induce stone recurrence
One small study found that cranberry juice caused an increase in oxalic acid concentrations in the urine, warning that cranberries can make stone recurrence more likely if the person taking it has a history of kidney stones.
”I mention this only because I want to continue to be fair and open. The fact is that there are examples of cranberry folk prescriptions for stones.” Michael? Dr. Murray said that for stone patients, cranberry juice is the juice they should be drinking.
Where they disagree is that there are many types of kidney stones, the two most common being formed from calcium and oxalic acid. Cranberry juice does contain oxalic acid, so theoretically it does increase the likelihood of stones forming from oxalic acid. (Other foods may contain higher levels of oxalic acid, such as coffee.)
In addition, Murray notes that cranberry juice can lower the concentration of calcium in the urine. He even recommends 2 cups of 226.8 grams of cranberry juice per day as a preventive measure for stones. Regardless, the best way to prevent kidney stones is to make sure your diet is rich in potassium (fruits and vegetables), take magnesium and vitamin B6, and then drink plenty of water.
New study: cranberry juice does prevent urinary tract infections
A Meta-analysis published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on 2012-07-09 showed that cranberry products are effective in preventing urinary tract infections (UTIs) (Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(13):988-996).
A 2008 Cochrane analysis of the literature related to cranberries and UTIs showed that cranberry juice helped prevent symptomatic UTIs with a hazard ratio (RR) of 0.66. Some new research evidence has since emerged, prompting a new Meta-analysis by Dr. Chih-Hung Wang and colleagues from the Department of Emergency Medicine at National Taiwan University in Taipei.
They reviewed a number of randomized controlled trials that compared cranberry products with placebo or control substances and measured the incidence of UTIs, and a total of 13 such studies, including 9 parallel-group studies and 4 crossover trials, were detected. Ten of these studies were conducted in North America and three in Europe. The total number of subjects was 1,616. However, most studies did not adequately report the randomization process and had a high rate of missed visits (0% to 48%). These studies also varied considerably in form, dose, and measured anthocyaninogen content of cranberry products. 9 studies used cranberry juice and 4 used capsules or tablets with daily doses ranging from 0.4 to 194.4 g. Three of the randomized controlled trials were excluded from the quantitative analysis, and results were pooled for 1,494 subjects (794 treated with cranberry and 700 served as controls).
One of the 10 studies was a significant source of heterogeneity, and when this “outlier” study was excluded, the heterogeneity was significantly reduced, with an RR of 0.62, suggesting a significant effect of cranberry products in preventing UTIs. This result is very close to the previous Cochrane analysis.
The inclusion of more recent studies allowed the investigators to assess the effect of cranberry products on some subgroups of patients. The subgroup analysis showed that cranberry juice may be more beneficial than tablets or capsules. Subjects who consumed cranberry juice may have had better hydration. In addition, the researchers suggest that cranberry juice may contain a hitherto unknown substance that may exert a superimposed or synergistic protective effect that is not present in other products. Another subgroup analysis suggested that frequent doses may be more effective than one to two daily doses. Because some previous ex vivo studies have reported “anti-adhesive activity against E. coli flagella lasting approximately 8 hours after consumption of cranberry juice, more than 2 daily doses should be more effective.”
The investigators concluded that cranberry products may have a preventive effect against UTIs and that cranberry juice is more effective than tablets and capsules, and more effective in prevention when taken more than twice daily.
[Researchers disclosed no relevant conflicts of interest].