The Cranberry Season

I don’t remember the first time I tasted cranberry sauce. I must assume it was on a Thanksgiving early in my childhood, but I’m not sure. The first clear memory was a dinner at my uncle Florentino’s home. Most of my older cousins were there so I was left to my own amusements. I was bored and re-reading Tom Sawyer most of the day. There was no room for me at the table, so I took my plate and went to one of the bedrooms. I scooped a bunch of the red jelled sauce into my mouth. The taste was wonderful though it seemed to leave a slight bitter aftertaste. All in all it seemed a great treat, but only available once a year.

I tasted cranberry juice much later when I started mixing drinks in my twenties. Distinctly I remember a party at my apartment involving my campus cop pals and numerous members of the college drama department. It was an odd party even by my standards. I had a small part in a college production of The Man Who Came to Dinner, which my police colleagues thought hilarious. I played a cop. My training officer at the time, a dark-haired young woman named Linda Damay, chugged a mixed drink of vodka and cranberry juice with the comment, “The next time I get a bladder infection, this should really kill the pain.” I didn’t understand the reference to bladder infections at that time, but we were all well lubricated by that time so I ignored it.

In the years that followed, numerous women informed me that drinking cranberry juice would stop urinary tract infections IF caught early. Most believed that the acidic properties of cranberry juice destroyed bacteria in the urinary tract. It seemed to make sense. Cranberry juice is highly acidic. It will eat the bluing right off a handgun. Don’t ask me how I know.

Cranberry is a member of the same family as bilberry, blueberry and manzanita. It is a North America native and grows in bogs in the northeast and northwest regions of the United States. The ripe fruit is used, but can only be eaten if heavily sweetened.

Amazingly, Americans eat about 117 million pounds of cranberry sauce each year, most of it during November and December. I have lately wondered if the incidents of urinary tract infections actually dropped during those months. Unfortunately no studies have been done on this.

For generations, doctors have routinely advised patients to drink cranberry juice to prevent urinary infections. In fact, it is cited as an effective remedy for this problem in the U.S. Pharmacopeia, the official listing of drugs in the United States. At one time, scientists believed that cranberry acidified the urine, and in the process, killed invading bacteria that could cause infection.

Two decades ago Dr. Anthony Sabota, a scientist at Youngstown State University in Ohio, offered another possible explanation. His studies suggested that cranberry prevents bacteria from sticking to the wall of the bladder, thus flushing the potential troublemakers out of the body before they can do their damage. He was right.

In a landmark study, scientists have pinpointed why drinking cranberry juice may be an effective strategy to help ward off urinary tract infections – an often reoccurring, painful problem that accounts for more than seven million doctor visits annually.

Published in a letter today, October 8, 1998, in The New England Journal of Medicine, the research is the first to document the specific components in cranberries that promote urinary tract health.

Led by a team from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, the scientists isolated compounds called condensed tannins or to use the mouth twisting scientific name, proanthocyanidins, from cranberry fruit, which were found to be capable of preventing Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria from attaching to cells in the urinary tract. E. coli are the primary bacteria responsible for urinary tract infections.

“We already know from previous reports that cranberries have a beneficial effect on urinary tract health,” said Amy B. Howell, Ph.D., research scientist at Rutgers and lead investigator of the study. “This breakthrough study is the first to identify what’s actually responsible for the effect. We found that the condensed tannins in cranberries were capable of preventing the bacteria from attaching to the urinary tract, which would promote flushing of bacteria from the bladder into the urine stream, resulting in the prevention or reduction of symptoms.”

The Rutgers researchers believe the cranberry compounds may act by blocking or preventing growth of the part of the bacteria that bind to the urinary tract and lead to infection. Howell estimates that the amount of condensed tannins in a 10-ounce glass of cranberry juice cocktail consumed on a daily basis would help prevent E. coli from attaching to the walls of the bladder and kidney and ward off urinary tract infections. Urinary tract infections - including cystitis or bladder infections – are caused by bacteria adhering or sticking to the walls of the bladder and kidney. The urinary tract is routinely cleansed of bacteria through the elimination process, but an infection can develop if the bacteria adhere to the cell walls and multiply.

About one-quarter of the women in this country are estimated to have had at least one urinary tract infection in their lifetime. Many are plagued by persistent infections that often require ongoing treatment with antibiotics.

It should be noted that MEN also suffer from urinary tract infections, particularly if they do not drink enough liquids or have suffered kidney problems early in life.

Older men may be susceptible to these infections also, especially after the age of 45, when most of us slow down in our physical activities.

Continuing studies on other members of the same botanical family as cranberries, including blueberries and whortleberries, which contain these, condensed tannins have shown similar bacterial anti-adherence activity. Other common fruits and vegetables that were tested – including lemons, oranges, apples, bananas, carrots, lettuce and potatoes - did not have this activity.

Unfortunately, commercially prepared cranberry juice beverages are heavily sugared and high in calories. Though this would not greatly affect someone on a diet in the long run, it would be potentially dangerous for a diabetic, such as myself. Therefore diet or sugar reduced cranberry juice would be healthier. Capsules of cranberry extract available in health food stores are not only more potent, but also less caloric. For those individuals who are not fond of the taste of cranberries, capsules would be a good substitute for juice.

Three sixteen ounce glasses of juice (not the cocktail) is now considered the right amount for most urinary tract infections. How researchers arrived at the therapeutic dose is not known. Many women have told me they drink up to a gallon of cranberry juice at the first sign of a bladder infection. Hopefully the same effect can be had by taking one five hundred milligram capsule three times a day. It would certainly prevent long periods of time reading in the bathroom.

Still I do love cranberry sauce and am willing to double my diabetic medicines to enjoy it. Arguably, Ocean Spray makes the best commercial cranberry sauce in the world, but nothing can beat homemade.

My daughter Jennifer was away from home last year at Thanksgiving, so we did not partake of her homemade cranberry sauce. Her friends, though, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand had a potluck dinner, the center piece being a 22 lb. turkey. Jen made several pounds of cranberry sauce with bits of orange and cinnamon in it as her contribution to the effort. There was no sauce left at the end of the meal.

While I am certain everyone suffered a bit of over indulgence, I am fairly sure no one had a urinary tract infection.

As in all things, moderation and knowledge is suggested in the use of herbal remedies. Please contact an herbalist or knowledgeable physician concerning herbal treatments.