What is cranberry?

Cranberry is a small evergreen shrub (bush) containing dark pink flowers and cranberries. Cranberry grows both in damp bogs and in mountain forests from Tennessee to Alaska and blooms from late spring until the end of the summer. It's small red fruits are produced in the fall, which explains their prevalence during the Thanksgiving season. In the mid-1800's, German chemists discovered that the urine of those who ate cranberries contained a bacteriostatic compound (literally translated, "stopping bacteria"). Today, cranberry juice is a common home remedy used to prevent bacterial urinary tract infections. It contains several organic acids and fatty acids that act to keep bacteria from sticking to urinary tract cells. Cranberry ingestion also lowers the acidity of urine, thereby making conditions for bacterial growth less favorable. In addition, another constituent of cranberry, parasorbic acid, has been found to give plants some protection from fungal attack.

What is the effective dosage of cranberry supplementation?

The effective doses of cranberry for UTI prevention are the following (all are daily doses)

• 100-500mg of a standardized cranberry extract
• ? cup of fresh cranberries
• 1 tablespoon of dried cranberry
• 4 to 6 ounces of a 30% pure cranberry juice cocktail

What are the benefits of cranberry supplementation?

• Cranberry maintains a healthy urinary tract
• It Prevents/Treats urinary tract infections
• It also prevents the formation of dental plaque

What are the side effects of cranberry supplementation?

Cranberry is a safe supplement, as there are no documented side effects resulting from its use. But drinking excessive amounts (3-4 liters per day) of juice could cause gastrointestinal upset or diarrhea.

Cautions-

• only for adult use only not for children or pregnant or breast feeding women.