Prevent UTI's with Cranberry Juice

Written by Amber Whitman-Currier

Over the past few months I have been developing UTI"s quite frequently. I recently just had another one. The thing with these infections is they tend to sneak up on you. According to my doctor, some women are more prone to these infections. Of course on the day it presented itself the worst, I was sitting in a three-hour movie with my family. I suffered the whole time with pain and pressure and couldn't wait to get to a washroom. It was horrible! I have decided to write about a little known way to ward off UTI"S, Cranberry Juice. It has been used for more than a hundred years. At first it was thought there was no reliable evidence that it actually had any effect, however new research has proved differently.

In clinical trials it is evident that drinking cranberry juice helped fifty percent of cases. It can also help in lowering the risk of heart disease for people with high cholesterol and it has antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are dietary supplements that in small amounts can slow and even prevent the oxidation process. They can fix damage to your cells. They can also lower the incidence of cancer and infection and improve your immune system. When an infection occurs the e-coli have little hairy tips called P fimbria. The bacteria use the fimbria to attach to the bladder and multiply causing an infection.

However cranberries contain a group of chemicals called proanthocyanidins that bind to the P fimbria of the E.coli and prevent the bacteria from sticking to the bladder wall. It then binds the E.coli and it gets flushed out in the urine, instead of causing an infection. However once they bind, cranberry juice will not be useful. So it is important to drink cranberry juice to prevent such an occurrence. One hundred per cent juice is not necessary. Cranberry juice cocktail and white cranberry juice will work just as well. The lighter versions are also acceptable. The cranberry pills are not recommended. It is recommended to drink anywhere from one to three glasses a day. The antioxidant properties can last from seven to ten hours. So if you suffer from these nasty infections frequently as I do, the answer may be to drink more fluids especially cranberry juice.