What is in this article?:
- Clinical trial backs ability of cranberry to prevent UTIs
- Long-term risks of antibiotics
The benefit of cranberry in lowering the incidence of urinary tract infections has been supported by numerous studies. The most recent study reaffirms these reults, and shows the botanical worked almost as well as a pharmaceutical drug without the drug's side effects.
A compelling new clinical trial shows that a prescription drug for the prevention of urinary tract infections (UTIs) has only a "very limited advantage" over a cranberry extract. And use of the pharmaceutical came at a cost -- a "marked reduction" in antibiotic resistance among the study participants.
The trial tested Proprietary Nutritionals' Cran-Max cranberry concentrate against Trimethoprim, an antibiotic formerly marketed by GlaxoSmithKline under trade names Proloprim, Monotrim and Triprim, but now available by generic manufacturers.
The study was recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Concluded lead researcher Marion E.T. McMurdo: "Our trial is the first to evaluate cranberry in the prevention of recurrent UTIs specifically in older women, and the first head-to-head double-blind comparison of cranberry versus antibiotic prophylaxis. Trimethoprim had a very limited advantage in the prevention of recurrent UTIs and had more adverse effects."
The 12-month study compared 221 women with recurrent UTIs who took either trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX, 480 mg at night, plus one placebo capsule twice daily), or cranberry capsules (Cran-Max cranberry concentrate, 500 mg twice daily, plus one placebo tablet at night.)
While there were fewer clinical recurrences with the drug group, the antibiotic resistance rates tripled in the pathogens found in patients taking the drug. One month into the study, antibiotic resistance for Escherichia coli was higher than 85 percent in the TMP-SMX group, but less than 30 percent in the cranberry group.
In a commentary accompanying the study, Bill J. Gurley, Ph.D., of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, said, "Such a marked reduction in antibiotic resistance certainly favors the therapeutic potential of cranberry as a natural UTI preventative."