December 22, 2010 – To fight against recurrent urinary tract infections, drinking cranberry juice is a proven method. At least that’s what we thought, until the publication of a study1 American coming to sow doubt.
The study was conducted among 319 women who consulted for a urinary tract infection. For 6 months, they had to drink 2 glasses (16 oz) of cranberry juice or a sweet and tangy placebo juice every day, but not containing the active ingredients of cranberries. Unexpectedly, there were more recurrences of UTIs in women drinking cranberry juice than in those drinking placebo juice (20% vs. 14%).
However, this study is not totally negative. Whether they drank cranberry juice or placebo juice, women experienced almost half the recurrence of this type of infection (16.9% vs. 30%). The researchers believe that this protective effect could be due to the presence of vitamin C in the two juices, or simply to better hydration of the participants.
According to Jean-Yves Dionne, pharmacist specializing in natural products, “vitamin C could indeed be useful, but at doses much higher (5 g) than those contained in a juice”. It is therefore difficult to explain these results, even though a study in 2008 showed that the blood level of vitamin C was lower in people with a urinary tract infection.
Previously published clinical trials have concluded that cranberries have a protective role against recurrent urinary tract infections in young women, mostly caused by the bacteria. E. coli. The authors of a systematic review published in 2008 scanned 10 trials involving a total of 1,049 subjects. They concluded that cranberry juice may be effective in preventing UTIs in women at risk. Since this study, 3 other conclusive trials have been published.
Marine Corniou – PasseportSanté.net
1. Barbosa-Cesnik C, Brown MB et al. Cranberry juice fails to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection: results from a randomized placebo-controlled trial, Clin Infect Dis. 2011 Jan; 52 (1): 23-30.
