March/April 2005

HEALTH BYTES

Cranberry juice and UTIs: more is better

Studies have confirmed that cranberry juice can help prevent and treat urinary tract infections (UTIs), but no real guidelines of how much to drink have been established. A pilot study suggests that drinking more is better than drinking less. Cranberries contain substances called tannins which prevent E. coli bacteria, the most common cause of UTIs, from adhering to the walls of the bladder and causing infection. When they lose their “stickiness,” the bacteria are washed away in the urine. The study found that an eight-ounce serving of cranberry juice decreased the amount of bacteria adhering to the bladder walls by 71 percent; drinking four ounces led to a 33 percent reduction, and two ounces had no effect.