Cranberry can help fight uriry tract infections in babies

London, Jan 19: Cranberry extracts can help fighting uriry tract infections (UTIs) or bladder infection in breast-fed babies less than one year of age, new research says. Cranberry extract possesses anti-inflammatory properties, which can improve kidney disease following kidney infection and reflux, present in other patients, the findings showed. The study proved that cranberry extracts helps prevent the prescription of antibiotics in the treatment for recurrent uriry tract infections in infants with vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) — the backward flow of urine from the bladder into the kidneys —, thereby preventing the risk of increasing the bacterial antibiotic resistance, the researchers explained.

“According to alysis, the composition of cranberry extracts available at the market is heterogeneous, and not all the polyphenolic — micronutrients in our diet — fractions in them are equally useful,” noted the lead author, Jose Uberos Ferndez, professor from the Department of Pediatrics (UGR), University of Grada in Spain. Cranberry extract effects have been, after numerous in-vitro tests, classically linked to the amount of proanthocyanidins - micronutrients found in a variety of plants — present in the extract. “This molecule is quickly metabolized in the intestine, and our researchers have demonstrated that the concentration of proanthocyanidins detected in urine is very little,” Uberos said. Earlier researches had shown the effectiveness of cranberry extract in preventing uriry infections in adults.  (IANS)