A small study carried out in elderly women calls into question the evidence for the effectiveness of cranberries in the treatment of urinary tract infections.
It is a myth which collapses: in the event of cystitis, the juice and the capsules of cranberry would have no proven effectiveness. The famous bay would have thus stolen an undue reputation for a century. This is in any case the finding of a team of researchers who publish their findings in the journal Jama.
The authors followed 185 elderly women living in nursing homes for one year. Part of the group received a total of 72g of cranberry in capsule form; the other was given a placebo. Blood and urine samples were taken every two months to measure the levels of bacteria associated with the UTI.
Demystifying the cranberry
As the researchers expected, a significant portion of the participants (31%) already possessed these bacteria. In fact, elderly women who reside in health centers constitute a population at risk, they explain. But according to their observations, at the end of the experiment, the women of the two groups had similar levels of bacteria, without the cranberry being able to play a significant role.
For the team of scientists, it is time to demystify the role of cranberry in cystitis, an infection that affects one in two women. The authors thus denounce the lack of rigor of the studies which manage to demonstrate the benefits of the berry.
A Cochrane review published six years ago found the same lack of evidence of efficacy for cranberries. However, if the latest studies have the interest of raising an important question, they remain limited by the relatively small number of participants and the choice of a population at risk (women in retirement homes), more prone to developing urinary infections. .
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