Pink pigments in cranberries help you “tinkle” better

Urinary tract infections are a common somewhat unpleasant health problem that afflicts thousands of woman.

E.coli is usually the perpetrator in UTIs

E.coli  is everywhere but it turns out the little guys that cause problems in the urinary tract come with tiny little hooks called fimbriae,  which attach onto special receptors on the urinary tract cells.

 As they are sliding down the tract,  they throw out these little hooks and latch on.    To picture it in your mind think Velcro – the bacteria “stick” onto the urinary tract cells and once attached they’re stuck !  

They  can then get comfy and start  a “little” family-cum-colony etc.  Trouble is, the family soon causes discomfort which shows up as burny smell urine.

Antibiotics knock them off their hooks

But the big problem with antibiotics is they kill the good bacteria as well as the trouble makers.   An alternative to a stint of antibiotics is to drink cranberry juice.  Good news is it really works.  A study done by  researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute  have just figured out why the juice works.

The cranberry effect

It turns out the in the cranberry juice causes the fimbriae to bend and when this happens the bacteria lose their grip. 

The forces generated by the bladder when you pee are the equivalent of a flash flood,  so if you’re not holding on tight,  you’re gone – which is what happens to the bacteria.

Real juice real power !

You need to be drinking the real deal i.e. cranberry juice not a wishy washy pretend blend so beware of the hype. 

Real cranberry juice is real expensive in South Africa because it is usually imported.  The juice must contain around 36 mg of cranberry proanthocyanidins  a day, to do the trick but the science supports that it does indeed do the trick by unsticking the bacteria “Velcro”.

 Direct adhesion force measurements between E. coli and human uroepithelial cells in cranberry juice cocktail. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (2010) 54(12) : 1744-1752; Yatao Liu, Paola A. Pinzón-Arango, Amparo M. Gallardo-Moreno, Terri A. Camesano.

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Further reading

For big decisions bringing in the bladder to “help” the brain is best	Tame the pylori burn with a probiotic fire-fighter	Little girls need to wallow in dirt to grow up healthy

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