The supplement being tested is Cranberry as it is claimed that the berry is helpful in preventing UTIs in patients with MS. Since it is commonly believed that cranberry is a great food to avoid urinary tract infections.
Urinary Tract Infection
The contagion or septicity in the urinary track that is any abnormality or infection in the bladder and urethra or kidney and ureters are in general described as Urinary Tract Infections (UTI). The urinary system begins from a pair of organs known as kidneys. They are responsible for removing waste and excess water from the body in the form of urine. Thereafter, it is the ureters which consists of two tubes which transfer the waste matter (liquid) from the kidneys to the bladder. Bladder keeps storing the urine until a specific limit, and then through ureters it expels the urine from the body.
Now anyone of these body parts can become diseased due to some reasons. Initially, the urine is sterilized. When through some means, bacteria enter into the urine, it begins to breed and reproduce. The infection begins from the urethra, the part from where urine is excreted from the body, and gradually moves into the urinary tract. If the infection is not treated in time, the bacteria might move up to the kidneys and cause some serious complications.
Women are more vulnerable to Urinary Tract Infections as compared to men, mainly because men have a longer urethra than women. According to a study, almost ten percent women have a urinary tract infection in a given year and a half, mostly occurring between the ages of 16 and 35. Poor hygiene is also one of the many reasons of Urinary Tract Infection, making infants who are unable to wash themselves properly after a bowel movement, prone to it.
Cranberries
Cranberries comes from the family of berries, the most commonly found cranberry is the North American cranberry, which is also known as Vaccinium macrocarpon. The North American cranberry belongs of the “Ericaceae” family of berries which has many renowned berries in the family like the Scotch Heather berry also identified as Calluna vulgaris, the Rhododendrons berry also acknowledged as Rhododendron spp. and the most famous Blueberries also scientifically recognized as Vaccinium augustifolium, or corymbosum. The Indians of New Jersey referred to cranberries as “Pakim” which meant “bitter berry”. They used the berry in their food and as a symbol of peace and alliance. The small fruit was also traditionally used by the Native Americans as a medicine for the treatment of bladder and kidney ailments as well as the dressing for wounds and blood poisoning. Other uses of the berries include fabric and food dye, and as a anticipatory against scurvy by the seamen. James White Norwood mentioned cranberries in his book in 1550. In his book he mentioned that how the Europeans met with Native Americans bearing bark cups full of cranberries.
Cranberries are grown in USA, Canada Chile and northern and central Europe. The stems of the plant are slender and wiry and carry leaves that remain green throughout the year.The color of the flowers of cranberry plant is deep pink. The petals are reflexed in a way, which leaves stamens and the styles fully visible. The fruit is edible; initially white in color, but as it ripens, the color turns deep red. The taste is acidic.
They contain ten percent carbohydrates and more than eighty percent of water. Apart from that, other components include anthocyanins, catechin, organic acids and some amount of ascorbic acid.
The fruit can be taken in the form of juice, raw fruit, powder and even capsules are available at various drugs stores.
For quite some time now, Cranberries are used herbal remedy to prevent and improve Urinary Tract Infections commonly known as UTI- a disease common in women and occasionally men. It’s believed that the acidity found in the berry makes the bladder inhospitable and unfavorable for the bacteria causing UTI. Sabota, in 1984, suggested that cranberry might be able to help stop UTI hindering the adherence of bacteria. Several studies ever since have been carried out to verify whether cranberry really does help prevent UTI or not. Although in a study which included older women, the juice of cranberry helped diminish the number of microbes in the bladder . Another study was held, with women who often experience UTIs, where they were given capsules of cranberry juice. Consequently, these women had lesser UTIs compared to the ones who consumed placebo .
Yet, according to the studies, the fruit only helps prevent Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) not treat it. The reason for this being is the fact that cranberry keeps the bacteria from attaching themselves to the wall of urinary tract. Once the bacteria are attached, the cranberry becomes less operative.
In a study of 153 subjects, 16 fluid ounces of cranberry juice bought from a store gave quite favorable and satisfactory results. Seventy three percent subjects gave a positive response. Though once they stopped consuming the juice of cranberry, sixty one percent suffered from the urinary tract infection again .
Randomized Controlled Trial
The experiment conducted was Randomized Controlled Trial. In this type of scientific study, the participants are randomly selected to take various treatments and medications . This way all the participants have an equal chance of getting nominated for any treatment. RCT is conducted to know whether a medication works or not.
Experimentation
Around 171 patients suffering from UTI were enlisted for the research during the 2o months ranging from January 2006 and November 2007, divided in to two groups;
Although few of them kept dropping out, but by the end of the experiment;
Placebo group
Cranberry group
The treatments for both the groups were balanced. They were studied for one year. By the end of the year, there wasn’t any specific or significant difference found in the results of both groups. The single most noteworthy change that was notes was the difference in the Qualiveen score at M9, the Qualiveen scores of patients who were given the real dose instead of the placebo was found to be higher, to be precise the cranberry group scored an average of 0.91 ± 0.70 for and the placebo group score was evaluated to be 1.27 ± 0.86. Other than this there were no other variations in the results .
Another study that was conducted with a six month follow-up for groups, gave patients either methenamine hippurate, cranberry tablets concluded that cranberry isn’t efficient in preventing UTIs or placebo.
According to a review by Cochrane, 4473 participants were chosen for the experiment with 24 studies . There were fewer cases that resulted in cranberry preventing UTI compared to placebo.
Conclusion
According to the recent experiments and studies, it is concluded; that “cranberry can help inhibit UTI in MS patients” is a common misbelief. No significant result was extracted from the experiments that would say otherwise.
References
Avorn, J., Monane, M., Gurwitz, J., Glynn, R., & Choodnovskiy, I. (1994). Reduction of bacteriuria and pyuria after ingestion of cranberry juice. . JAMA, 751-754.
Ehrlich, S. D. (2015, June 22). Complementary and Alternative Medicine Guide: Cranberry. Retrieved from University of Maryland Medical Center: http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/cranberry
Gallien, P., Amarenco, G., Benoit, N., Bonniaud, V., Donzé, C., Kerdraon, J., . . . Reymann, J. M. (2014, August). Cranberry versus placebo in the prevention of urinary infections in multiple sclerosis: a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 20(9), 1252-1259.
LAN. (2016). Cranberry. Retrieved from herb-plants.net: http://www.herb-plants.net/cranberry.html
NHS. (2014, July 17). Urinary tract infections in adults. Retrieved from NHS: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Urinary-tract-infection-adults/Pages/Introduction.aspx
Raz, R., Chazan, B., & Dan, M. (2004). Cranberry Juice and Urinary Tract Infection. Clinical Infectionous Disease, 38(10), 1413-1419. Retrieved from http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/10/1413.fullhttp://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/38/10/1413.full
RG, J., G, W., & JC, C. (2012, October 17). Cranberries for preventing urinary tract infections. Retrieved from Cochrane Library: http://www.cochrane.org/CD001321/RENAL_cranberries-for-preventing-urinary-tract-infections
Salvatore, S., Salvatore, S., Cattoni, E., Siesto, G., Serati, M., Sorice, P., & Torella, M. (2011). Urinary tract infections in women. European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reproductive Biology, 156(2), 131–136.
Team, B. U. (2015). Can Cranberry juice stop your uti. Retrieved from Healthessentials: http://health.clevelandclinic.org/2015/10/can-cranberry-juice-stop-uti/
The Cranberry Institute. (2016). About Cranberries. Retrieved from The Cranberry Institute: http://www.cranberryinstitute.org/about_cran/_aboutcranberries.html
