Cranberry juice not beneficial in preventing urinary tract infections--study
POSTED December 10, 2010 - 11:23 | POSTED BY Neharika Sabharwal
Last edited by Silky Chandvani on December 10, 2010 - 11:46
According to new study, cranberry juice, once touted for its ability to thwart the urine tract infections, is not effective in arresting the occurrence of the painful disease.
A small clinical trial of 319 women
In a bid to ascertain whether cranberry juice was a natural defense against persistent UTI, the researchers conducted a small clinical trail.
They enrolled 319 college going women who tested positive for UTI between 2005 and 2007.
Urinary tract infections persist in sexually active women with the risk factor rising by three to five percent in those using diaphragms for contraception.
As a part of the trial, the study subjects were asked to consume 8 ounces of juice twice daily for either six months or until the UTI came back.
Half the participants were assigned to the real cranberry juice, while the remaining half got a placebo juice that tasted like cranberry juice but had been stripped off the healthy compounds.
The researchers were unaware of who drank the real juice or the placebo until afterward.
Revelations of the study
The investigators found no significant variation in the rate of recurrence between the two groups.
It was noted that participants drinking the real cranberry juice suffered a second UTI at a rate of about 20 percent, whereas those assigned to the fake juice had recurrence of 14 percent.
Lead author of the study, Dr Betsy Foxman, at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor stated, “We assumed that we would observe a 30 percent recurrence rate among the placebo group. It is possible that the placebo juice inadvertently contained the active ingredients that reduce urinary tract infection risk, since both juices contained Vitamin C.”
She added, “Another possibility is that the study protocol kept participants better hydrated, leading them to urinate more frequently, therefore decreasing bacterial growth and reducing urinary tract infection symptoms.”
The results of the new study appear online and will be published in January 1 issue of the journal 'Clinical Infectious Diseases.'
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