Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; Weird Idea I just had... comments?

I was speaking with my mother who just had a terrible urinary tract infection and she was commenting on how if she had 'just taken a cranberry pill yesterday this wouldnt have happened'... Being a man I know nothing of this - but she said that the cranberry when excreted prevents the bacteria from adhering to the walls of the bladder.

Oh Really?

So the first thing that popped into my head was - "hey why dont I get my hands on some actual cranberries and try adding them to my diet.. maybe they will pass through and work the same magic in the intestine"

What do you guys think? Anyone tried this?

Hmmmm sounds interesting. Have never tried it.

I know a lot of people drink unsweetened cranberry juice for UTI's so there must be something to it!

Chelsea

Not specifically... but I do know that cranberries are good for urinary tract infections. Have never heard anything in regards to intestines and have never taken the time to understand why a difference (D/S probably knows).

However, I love dried cranberries and cranberry juice.

Dark cherries when in season I get some benefit from... but their season is short.

Tim

That is an interesting thought.

A naturopath told me the same thing once....I guess the bacteria are more attracted to the cranberry than to the walls of the bladder, so they attach to the cranberry and exit the system.

Interesting...I wonder if it depends on the type of bacteria?

Good point - its not the same bacteria - makes you wonder though what would do the same thing to klebs... Might be time to go the university library and spend a day in the medical stacks...

The reading i did on this suggested it was the FRUCTOSE in cranberry juice that attached to the bladder and urethra linings to take up spaces and remove the footholds used by bacteria.
Apparently there are MANNOSE sized "holes" on the molecules of the linings and therefore simple sugars can help smooth the linings, remove the toeholds for bacteria and let them be flushed away by the urine.
The theory should be then that most fruit juices help and those with mannose probably more. That said, there may be something extra anti-bacterial in cranberry.
Unfortunately the "holes" in the GIT are larger than molecular dimensions so a simple sugar (which by definition must be allowed to pass through as food) will not fix that layer, but hey it will will probably make one less vulnerable to any UTI.

Maybe someone should make a suppository out of cranberries and see if that works.

Or a cranberry juice enema.