Cranberry Juice: Good for the Heart 33029

Cranberry Juice: Good for the Heart

SCRANTON, Pa.--Drinking three glasses per day ofcranberry juice can improve heart health by increasing HDL cholesterol andplasma antioxidant levels, according to research presented by Joe Vinson, Ph.D.,of the University of Scranton, at a March 24 meeting of the American ChemicalSociety (ACS). Vinson's study involved 19 hypercholesterolemic volunteers, 10 ofwhom received cranberry juice artificially sweetened and containing nohigh-fructose corn syrup, and nine of whom received cranberry juice with noadded sugar. Both types of juice contained 27-percent pure cranberry juice byvolume, similar to juices found commercially, according to the ACS News Service(www.chemistry.org). Volunteers drank one8-ounce glass of cranberry juice per day for the first month, two glasses perday for the next month and three glasses per day for the third month.

Cholesterol tests indicated that while there was no change amongsubjects' overall cholesterol levels, "good" cholesterol levelsincreased by an average of 10 percent after three servings of juice per day.According to Vinson, this increase in HDL cholesterol lowered heart disease riskby 40 percent.

In addition to the increases in HDL cholesterol, subjectsexperienced increases in plasma antioxidant capacity of up to 121 percent whiledrinking two or three servings of cranberry juice per day. This also reducedheart disease risk, according to Vinson, whose work was funded in part by theCranberry Institute, which is sponsored by companies such as Ocean SprayCranberries Inc.

"This study gives consumers another reason to considerdrinking cranberry juice, which has more health benefits than previouslybelieved," Vinson said. "People should consider drinking it with theirmeals, perhaps as an alternative to soda."