And you're right, quite possibly longer doses might be required. I know it isn't just effective on e-coli but on an entire range of bacterial and fungal infections.
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 09/15/2010 9:56:16 AM PDT by decimon
Scientists reported new evidence on the effectiveness of that old folk remedy — cranberry juice — for urinary tract infections at the ACS' 240th National Meeting. "A number of controlled clinical trials — these are carefully designed and conducted scientific studies done in humans — have concluded that cranberry juice really is effective for preventing urinary tract infections," said Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D., who led the study. "That has important implications, considering the size of the problem and the health care costs involved."
Estimates suggest that urinary tract infections (UTIs) account for about 8 million medical visits each year, at a total cost of more than $1.6 billion. Camesano, who is with the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, said the study set out to shed light on how cranberry juice fights E. coli, the most common cause of UTIs. The study involved growing strains of E. coli in urine collected from healthy volunteers before and after consumption of cranberry juice cocktail. The scientists then tested the E. coli for their ability to stick together and form biofilms. Biofilms are thin, slimy layers that provide an environment for bacteria to thrive.
The scientists concluded that cranberry juice cocktail prevents E. coli from sticking to other bacteria and the surface of a plastic petri dish. E. coli that doesn't stick has a better chance of being flushed out of the urinary track. The results suggest that the beneficial substances in cranberry juice could reach the urinary tract and prevent bacterial adhesion within 8 hours after consumption of cranberry juice.
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ARTICLE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
VIEW FULL TEXT ARTICLE http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/acs-neo080910.php
CONTACT: Terri Anne Camesano, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute Department of Chemical Engineering Worcester, Mass. 01609 Telephone: 508-831-5380 Fax: 508-831-5853 E-mail: terric@wpi.edu
And you're right, quite possibly longer doses might be required. I know it isn't just effective on e-coli but on an entire range of bacterial and fungal infections.
Awhile back, I was riding on a NASA elevator when a lovely lady, drinking a 20 oz bottle of cranberry juice, stepped aboard. I mentioned to my buddy next to me “I read where cranberry juice is effective in reducing the symptoms of several STD’s”. Gee whiz, I didn’t know women could blow smoke out of their ears.
cranberry juice bump
A minor amount of a toxin can elicit a protective effect such that a greater toxic insult can be survived after exposure to a minor dose than if the major toxic insult is the first exposure to the toxin. This is sometimes called the “Mithridic effect” after King Mithridates the Great, who would drink a toxic brew every day that supposedly made him impossible to poison.
Homeopathy takes this SOMETIMES useful and applicable biological phenomena and elevates it to some sort of foundational principle of science and medicine, and it is not. Moreover they dilute the hell out of the toxin, such that often times there IS no active ingredient.
In answer to this criticism, Homeopaths (only slightly more reasonable than psychopaths and sociopaths) have actually suggested that the water has some sort of molecular memory of once being in contact with the toxin!
Yeah, that thur is some sound science and reasonable reasoning right thur!
I like the Splenda-based Diet Cranberry. That’s not relevant, it’s just me buttin’ in.
I'd love to be your wingman in a bar.
Thanks for this post. Too many people don't distinguish or understand the difference between the effect of developing immunity to substances (as e.g., practiced by Rasputin to develop immunity to arsenic which was a common poison at the time) and the curative effect of [herbal] medicine.
They are quite the opposite and dilution of active ingredient as prescribed by homeopathy practitioners is usually either ineffective or, at worst, can even cause resistance to treatment. At best, homeopathy might have the efficacy of placebo.
Been using cranraspberry with my Vodka for years. No UTIs here! It even adds to the flavor of Sangria, if you like wine.
I wasn’t aware that we needed any new evidence. The effectiveness of cranberry has never been in question.
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> “According to my uro-gynecologist, cranberry juice is a good aid to preventing infections, but an additional irritant to the bladder when an infection is present.
So she says drink it when you’re clear but not not when you have an active infection.”
.
The most, and maybe the only effective way to fight a urinary infection that has set in is chewing lots of fresh garlic. The Alicin is only released when garlic is mashed, so garlic salt, and most pills are not effective.
It is a phenomena with limited applicability as many genes that will help you to survive toxic insult are inducible by small doses of the insult. Much as one develops a tolerance for alcohol such that they could drink enough to kill someone with no exposure to it.
Homeopathy has become something of a buzzword, and I have noticed it used when the active ingredient is in no way diluted, and isn't a toxin. They just throw that in there so that stupid people who are sold on the flim flam will go “ohhhhh ahhhhhhh, sounds homeoriffic!”
> “we’ve known this for 20 years! Glad “science” is now on board too!”
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More like 2000 years!
Antibiotics have very little effect on bladder infections.
You’ll destroy your digestive tract for years to come before the antibiotics do anything positive in the bladder.
Add chicken, and you have chicken soup :o)
> “Cranberry juice as typically commercially available has too much sugar to do any good.”
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Very true! - Sugar taken internally is a huge enemy if you have an infection.
But raw cranberries have little sugar in them, and are far better than the “supplement.”
“The most, and maybe the only effective way to fight a urinary infection that has set in is chewing lots of fresh garlic.”
It’s equally effective as a birth comtrol agent!
In other words, it's become a [false] advertising scheme for people who are seduced by the buzz of "homeopathic" remedies, but at least in these cases they may be getting a full-strength herbal / "organic" / "natural" / ayurvedic and potentially helpful treatment instead of getting what they were looking for - actual homeopathic highly diluted product which might possibly create tolerance / immunity to the medicine they would need to cure them.
Would be funnier if it weren't so sad.
Are you implying that it has ‘social’ consequences? :o)
Are you guys battling a strawman by any chance?
I read the whole article and saw nothing suggesting homeopathy.
The article made it plain that the benefit was mechanical in nature, and looked like a proper description excepting for the inaccurate explanation of the biofilm.
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