Drinking cranberry juice was previously estimated to help restrict incidences of urinary tract infection. Well, if this piece of information is to be believed then, this may not true. A recent study asserts that intake of cranberry juice does not alter the occurrence of urinary tract infections.
The study was conducted on college-aged women tested positive for urinary tract infection. While one group was made to drink eight ounces of cranberry juice, others were given a placebo twice a day for either six months or until a recurrence of a urinary tract infection, whichever took place first. Recurrence of urinary tract infection was reported by almost 20 percent cranberry juice drinkers and 14 percent women on the placebo.
Betsy Foxman, PhD, of the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Ann Arbor and study author and colleagues mention that the placebo juice may be inadvertently containing the active ingredients that reduce urinary tract infection risk. Both cranberry juice as well as the placebo has Vitamin C. Another possibility is that the study protocol kept subjects better hydrated so they urinated more frequently. Hence, bacterial growth and urinary tract infection symptoms supposedly declined.
The study appears online and will be published in the January 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.