Cranberry Juice Quenches UTIs

BALTIMORE—According to a Cochrane Systematic Review published online, evidence may prove cranberry juice or cranberry capsules could help in preventing recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI’s) in women (Jepson RG, Craig JC. "Cranberries for preventing urinary tract infections." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008; Issue 1).Two authors independently assessed the methods, participants, interventions and outcomes of 10 trials (n=1,049, five crossover, five parallel groups). Cranberry/cranberry-lingonberry juice versus placebo, juice or water was evaluated in seven studies, and cranberry tablets versus placebo were evaluated in four studies (one study evaluated both juice and tablets). Results showed cranberry products significantly reduced the incidence of UTI’s over a 12 month period compared with the placebo/control groups, particularly for women with recurrent UTI’s. Side effects were common in all studies, and dropouts/withdrawals in several of the studies were high.