The Cranberry and Women's Health

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Cranberry has long been linked to helping defeat urinary tract infections, and recent research is beginning to bear this out. To see how this can be, we should first look at our kidneys.

The kidneys (one on each side of the spine just above the waist) make urine, which consists of about 95 percent water and 5 percent urea and various salts. This urine exits the kidney via long, thin tubes called ureters. The ureters (one from each kidney) drain into the bladder, a small round organ that acts as a holding tank. When the bladder fills, you get a signal that it is time to urinate. The urine passes out of your body through a canal called the urethra.

Anything that interferes with this flow may cause the urine to back up and stagnate in the bladder. The urinary tract then becomes a sitting duck for disease. Women often experience urinary tract infections. More than 60 percent of women experience a urinary tract infection sometime during their lives. For many women, infection is a chronic problem.

These infections are caused by the introduction of bacteria into the urinary tract. Once inside, they thrive in the warm, moist environment. Ultimately, they begin to affect urine production and the function of the bladder, resulting in significant pain.

Any reduction in kidney efficiency can have a drastic and immediate impact on our health. Even a partial reduction in the kidney's ability to filter the blood will lead to the rapid buildup of deadly toxins in the bloodstream. In severe cases, patients may require a kidney dialysis machine to artificially filter blood. Although this equipment does prevent the deadly buildup of urea and ammonia in the bloodstream, it is not as effective as the kidneys.

Flavonoids in cranberry

How do cranberries help? When a cranberry is in its juvenile state, it is green and bitter, making it unpalatable to most animals. At this early stage, the cranberry produces a certain class of molecules known as flavonoids, substances that have been investigated for their nutritional benefits and antibacterial activity. Studies have shown that the particular flavonoids produced by the cranberry have a strong antibacterial effect.

But this is only part of the story. As the berry matures, it benefits the plant if a bird or other animal eats the cranberry so that its seeds will be spread to new areas where it will propagate and grow. To ensure that this happens, the plant transforms the flavonoids that contribute to the fruit's bitter taste. The plant removes part of the flavonoid molecule and replaces it with a sugar molecule. This has the effect of sweetening the fruit, making it more palatable as a food-and helping to ensure that the plant continues to produce offspring.

Fighting infection

This sugar molecule makes cranberry effective as a nutrient within the urinary tract. In the human body, different cells have unique receptor sites. These sites can be thought of as a lock in a door requiring a unique key to open it. The sugar attached to the cranberry flavonoid seeks out an acceptable receptor site to attach itself. In cranberries, the sugar unlocks a receptor site on the walls of the urinary tract.

This explains cranberries' unique benefits. Cranberries contain a type of flavonoid that is capable of defeating the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections, and this flavonoid is attached to a sugar that seeks out the cells that line the urinary tract.

Research recommends making cranberries part of your diet if you are prone to recurrent urinary infections. A 1994 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates that cranberry might reduce the levels of bacteria in urine. A report in the Journal of Psychiatric Nursing suggests that anyone troubled by urinary incontinence incorporate cranberries into their diet to reduce the embarrassing odor of this problem.

See CranVerry™ for information on a great concentrated cranberry supplement.

Suggested Reading

Avorn, et al. "Reduction of bacteriuria and pyuria after ingestion of cranberry juice." Journal of the American Medical Association 271, no. 10 (March 9, 1994).