Cranberry juice and Urinary Tract Infection

Cranberry juice is well known and accepted for helping maintain urinary tract health. Cranberry is a strong diuretic, and the juice is often prescribed as dietary treatment for urinary tract infection, kidney disorders and other conditions where passing of fluids is desirable.

In USA, urinary tract infections affect 10% of the female population. Many of these women have a 25% rate of recurrence resulting in about 9,000, 000 doctors’ office visits annually. Many women suffer from cystitis, an inflammation and injection of the bladder, at some time in their lives, with as many as one in five women estimated to have urinary tract discomfort at least once a year.

Although limited in number clinical trials have strongly supported a role for cranberry juice in lowering urinary tract infections. Cranberry can be used both as a preventive and as an adjunct treatment for urinary tract infection. Cranberry juice therapy may require drinking a liter of straight cranberry juice daily, which few are willing to do. Fortunately, cranberry capsules are easily swallowed.

Quality cranberry juice produces hippuric acid in the urine, which acidifies the urine and inhibits bacterial growth. Other components in cranberry juice prevent bacteria from adhering to the lining of the bladder.

According to study, cranberry juice, given in maximal tolerable amounts to normal subjects, increases the acidity of the urine slightly and increases the hippuric acid content of the urine by several grams a day. Hippuric acid, in concentrations of 0.02 - 0.04 M, is bacteriostatic at pH 5.0 for the common pathogens of the urinary tract, and its activity decreases about fivefold as the pH is raised to 5.6. (J Lab Clin. Med. 1959 Dec;54:881-8. Cranberry juice and the antibacterial action of hippuric acid).
Cranberry juice and Urinary Tract Infection