That tangy cranberry – makes bacteria slip slide away
read time: 437 words, about 3 minutes
What would Thanksgiving be without cranberry sauce?
Cranberries are one of only three (blueberries and Concord grapes) commercially grown fruits native to North America.
There are about 1,000 cranberry growers in North America – half are in Massachusetts. It’s a small industry. 70% are small family owned farms with 20 acres or less in production.
Cranberries are both “dry” harvested and “wet” harvested.
With dry harvesting, the berries are “raked” off the vines. These berries are sold fresh and available from mid-September through December.
Wet harvesting involves flooding the “bogs” (fields) with water and then mechanically stirring the water to loosen the berries off the vines. Because cranberries have pockets of air inside, they float to the top. Wooden or plastic booms are used to gather up the berries.
Wet harvested berries aren’t sold fresh. They’re used in juices, sauces and other foods.
Slip Slidin Away
In 1994 there was a Harvard Medical School study that looked at cranberry juice and UTI – Urinary Tract Infection. It was shown that regular consumption of cranberry juice reduced the amount of bacteria in the urinary tracts of a group of elderly women.
What they found in this study was that it wasn’t the acid of the berry as had been believed. But it was something specific to cranberries that prevented bacteria from sticking to the bladder lining. Thus the bacteria just passed through and did not stick around, multiply and lead to infection.
The research was expanded upon in 1998 at Rutgers University. They identified proanthocyanidins (PACs), or condensed tannins as the compounds responsible. PACs work on certain kinds of bacteria – notably E. coli which is associated with UTIs.
There’s been some other recent research that suggests PACs have a similar effect with H. pylori in the stomach. That is, PACs prevent the bacteria from sticking and growing. H. pylori is believed to be responsible for stomach ulcers.
Moving up the digesting path, cranberries have been show to inhibit bacteria in the mouth which leads to plaque, periodontal gum disease and tooth decay. There was a study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, which identified a different cranberry component – nondialysable material (NDM) that battles mouth bacteria.
The deep red berry is also packed with flavonoids… antioxidant warriors.
Enticed to spread the cranberry sauce thick?
OK, as good as cranberries are, they often get teemed up with sugar. Among other things, sugar is a bacteria fertilizer. So try some other sweet options such as fresh orange juice, apples or pears.
Looking for some different ways to use cranberries?
Here are a couple of recipe databases…
SOAR – Searchable Online Archive of Recipes
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Tags: cranberries, Nutrition
November 21st, 2006 at 9:47 pm
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