Cranberries, Best of Super Foods

Scientists say that cranberries have many health benefits. Here are some:

The cranberry is the number one antioxidant, containing the highest concentration of phenols, a type of antioxidant that is thought to reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, stroke and heart disease (Unviersity of Scranton).

Cranberries contain a compound that helps prevent metastasis, the spread of cancer to other parts of the body (University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth). Cranberries may also improve chemotherapy for ovarian cancer (Rutgers university).

Cranberry juice, long recognized for its ability to lessen urinary tract infections, also works against a number of gastrointestinal viruses (St. Francis College).

The cranberry has several antioxidant (flavonoids) that fight off the bacterium that causes tooth decay (University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry).

There is considerable evidence that cranberries can reduce the damage from stroke (Unviersity of Massachusetts-Dartmouth); improve the health of the heart (University of Wisconsin-Madison); and work like antibiotics on E. coli, a class of microorganisms responsible for human illnesses ranging from kidney infections to gastroenteritis (Worcester Polytechnic Institute).

Scientists at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., have been working for years to come up with an explanation as to how cranberries ward off urinary tract infections. Researchers have long suspected that the berries must do something to stop harmful bacteria from latching on to the lining of the urinary tract.

Terri Camesano, associate professor of chemical engineering at WPI, heads a team of researchers who have found that cranberry juice causes chemical changes in the bacteria. Those changes work in several ways to create a barrier that keeps the bacteria from even getting close to the lining. For example, cranberry juice causes tiny tendrils on the surface of E. coli to become compressed, reducing the bacteria's ability to latch on to the lining.

If the bacteria can't attach to the sides of the urinary tract, it can't do its damage. The research suggests that the juice is extremely powerful, even in very diluted form. Only a five percent solution is required to reduce the bacteria's ability to latch on to the urinary tract.

Of course, most of this is not new. According to Darren Lynch of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, cranberries have been used since at least the 17th centrury to treat blood disorders, stomach ailments, loss of appetite, scurvy and cancer. When the pilgrims first arrived in this country, they found that Native Americans were using the berries to treat bladder and kidney ailments.