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- Product: Walgreen's Cranberry extract tablets, $9.99 for 100 tablets, with a suggested dose of two to three tablets daily twice or three times a day.
- Key ingredients: Cranberry extract.
- The pitch: That cranberries can help maintain urinary tract health. Cranberry juices, powders and extracts are touted for preventing and alleviating urinary tract infections (UTIs).
- How it works: Cranberries have tannins with remarkable powers to fight bacteria that lead to UTIs. The tannins de-arm bacteria's ability to latch onto cells in the urinary tract, allowing the body to flush them out.
- Pros: Cranberries work well as UTI-blockers, studies have shown. Tablets and juices are equally effective. To counteract cranberries' tartness, many juices add hefty doses of sugar. Tablets offer a lower-calorie alternative.
- Cons: Some experts warn that cranberries contain a high concentration of a substance found in kidney stones, so patients at risk of this condition should limit their consumption.
- Bottom line: Despite favorable research on cranberries, doctors stop short at recommending them over antibiotics for patients with UTIs. However, patients who take cranberry may never have to worry about ridding themselves of UTI. They won't develop the infection in the first place.
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(c) 2003, The Miami Herald. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
