This Just In: Cranberries Are Not As Effective As Antibiotics

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Urinary tract infections (UTIs), a delightful treat for nearly half of all women, call for many traditional and untraditional remedies, including cranberry products. ABC Local is reporting that, according to experts, utilizing cranberry whatever "doesn't work better than antibiotics."

According to the Archives of Internal Medicine, women who took cranberry capsules had four recurrences in a year. Those on antibiotics had less than two.

On the other hand, scientists know antibiotics can lead to drug resistance and suggest cranberry juice might still be somewhat useful despite its "lower effectiveness." Which means the choices are: UTIs that don't go away, or becoming drug-resistant to possibly life-saving antibiotics? Really? That's the end of the story?

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By Lisa Brenner in News on July 25, 2011 3:30 PM

Comments [rss]

jennix

... not to mention that 100% Cranberry Juice costs $6 a quart. I don't know of a doctor who'll tell me so much as "go away" for $6, much less a pharmacy.

Donna Wilson

Cranberry juice always worked for me if ya catch it early on....

golfb123

I used to get chronic UTIs. What finally worked was d-mannose. It's a soluble type of sugar that's not readily absorbed by the body, but really cleans out the urinary tract. It's awesome!! Available at Whole Foods, too.

Doran

It's not that the cranberry pills weren't effective, but they were less effective. It's also important that the doctor evaluated the study notes
“Because optimal doses have not been established for many botanicals,
clinical efficacy trials have often yielded negative or inconclusive
results”
.
Here is a much better link about the results of the study.