by Joan Mccord

Created on: May 10, 2008   Last Updated: June 16, 2008

Cranberries are uniquely North American. Columbus found Native Americans using cranberries for both food and medicine.

They cleaned their wounds with cranberry juice, and the medicine men made poultices to extract poisons from arrow injuries.

American whalers carried barrels of cranberries just as English ships carried limes to avoid the agony of scurvy.

In 1984, Dr. Anthony Sobota, Professor of Microbiology at Youngstown State University, Ohio, found that a glass of cranberry juice a day kills urinary tract bacteria ten times more effectively than traditional antibiotics.(1) He explained that cranberries contain a component that covers the walls of the bladder, kidneys, and interconnecting tubing, and prevents bacteria from attaching themselves to these tissues where they would normally live and multiply.(2)

Other research has indicated that most chronic urinary infection is kept at bay by continuing to drink a glass of pure, unsweetened cranberry juice every day.

There is also on-going research that might indicate this applies to viruses and pathogens that adhere to tissue, even the surface of a tooth. And there is extensive study of how cranberries might relate to the treatment of cancer, kidney stones and other ills.

This is possibly the most dramatic and healing use of cranberries, but it is not the only nutritive role of cranberries.

Cranberries are delicious fresh in relishes and chutneys, cooked in sauces and stuffings, and dried in snacks and desserts. With their good levels of Vitamin C, the dietary fiber manganese, and a balanced profile of other essential micro nutrients, cranberries should not be missed as an important and interesting addition to your daily diet.

resources

(1) Healing Foods, Michael Van Straten, 1997, Barnes and Nobel Books
(2) Phytomedicine, 2007, Jan 14 (1) 23-30
(3) Caries Research, Dr. Hyun Hoo, University of Rochester Medical Center.

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