The delicious harvest-season guest that is welcomed fresh year after year, cranberries may bring more than just a tasty dish to the table. Cranberries have been shown to have powerful antibiotic properties and can be used to prevent or treat a myriad of infections. From bladder infections to gum disease, cranberry can offer a gentle but effective health boost in a tasty holiday dish or refreshing juice drink.
Use Cranberries
To get the best benefit out of cranberry, you should use the fresh fruit or unsweetened fruit juice. While sweetened cranberry juice cocktail mixtures have some of the health benefits of cranberry, the sugar can offset some of the benefits of cranberry juice.
Holistic Online suggests a therapeutic dose of 16 ounces of pure unsweetened cranberry juice per day. For best results, use unsweetened cranberry juice, cranberry supplements, or the fresh fruit prepared sugar free. Cranberry juice can be watered down to one-fourth of its original strength and sweetened with your favorite sugar-free sweetener. If you like lemonade, you can also try adding sugar free lemonade to diluted cranberry juice. Experiment with mixtures you like, but try to keep the sugar out of it.
You can easily include doses of cooked cranberry in your diet without the sugar by cooking fresh fruit into cranberry sauce. Cook whole fresh cranberries on the stove until they explode, and sweeten to taste with your favorite calorie-free sweetener.
Cranberry products should not be used without the supervision of a doctor if you already have an infection.
Stomach Ulcers
According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), cranberries have been shown to effectively fight stomach ulcers caused by a certain type of bacteria. The type of bacteria, Helicobacter pylori, is also implicated in bladder infections. Cranberries also are effective in preventing E. coli, another type of bacteria that can cause damage to your digestive system, according to Holistic Online.
Gum Disease
Cranberries' antibiotic effects aren't just limited to the inner workings of the body. Pure cranberry juice has shown a healing effect on mouth ulcers and gum disease due to its effect in reducing bacteria. According to The Cranberry Institute, cranberries fight bacteria by preventing the bacteria's ability to attach themselves to cell walls. Without their ability to attach to a host cell, the bacteria are more easily washed away during brushing.
Bladder Infection
The same types of bacteria that cause gum disease and stomach ulcers act in the bladder to cause infection. Cranberries' healing mechanisms function in a similar way within the bladder, preventing the harmful bacteria from attaching themselves to your cells. Cranberry juice also increases the volume of your urine, which flushes the bladder, clearing bacteria.
Heart Health
According to the Cranberry Institute, cranberry juice may help reduce the effects of cholesterol and improve heart health. "Flavonoids and polyphenolic compounds" in cranberries have demonstrated an inhibition in "low density lipoprotein oxidation." The Cranberry Institute predicts that this finding means that cranberries may offer a treatment or prevention of atherosclerosis.
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