Another Health Plus for Cranberry Juice
You probably already know that cranberry juice can help prevent bladder infections. Components in cranberries keep bacteria from sticking to the inside of the bladder, making it harder for them to get established, and easier to knock them out. It turns out that the same anti-adhesion properties in cranberries can stop an ulcer-causing bug, H. pylori, from adhering to the mucus-producing cells of the stomach, making it easier for drugs to eradicate the bacteria.
A study done at Tel Aviv University looked at 889 people with H. pylori infection, all receiving standard “triple therapy” of two antibiotics and a stomach-acid-reducing proton-pump inhibitor. The people were divided into three groups. One group received drugs plus 8 ounces of cranberry juice twice daily for one week, followed by cranberry juice alone for 2 more weeks. One group received drugs plus fake juice. A third group received just the drugs.
Results showed that 95% of women taking the drug-cranberry juice combination had complete eradication of the bug, compared to 86.8% of women taking just drugs. That’s important because 15 to 20% of people treated for H. pylori respond poorly, even when they comply with the treatment and the drugs being used are known to kill their strains of bacteria. Bacteria can develop drug-resistant strains if antibiotics don’t quickly kill them, making them hard to shake.
Men didn’t benefit from cranberry juice, and researchers speculate that there might be some unknown gender factor —or that the men just didn’t drink the juice.
Cranberry juice doesn’t do a very good job by itself of eradicating H. pylori. You need the drugs, too. But this study shows that the combination is unbeatable.
Cranberry juice also helps to keep plaque-causing bacteria from sticking to your teeth. Plus, it tastes great. (Schmuely, H., et al. Mol Nutr Food Res, 2007; 51(6): 746-51.)
