Author: Anu Chopra and Shiwani Singh
Download PDF
Cranberry products such as juice and extract are the most advised herbal medicine to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs). It is believed that the active ingredient in cranberry prevents adherence of pathogens to the epithelial cells in the urogenital tract, thereby preventing infection. The incidence of UTIs is reported to be significantly higher in pregnant females. Owing to increasing antibiotic resistance and their side effects in pregnancy, it is of importance to identify and study the safety and efficacy of cranberry as herbal medicine for prevention or treatment of UTIs. This review evaluates the studies and clinical trials available till date and identifies that high doses of cranberry are safe in pregnancy and may be effective in preventing UTIs. The major challenge faced by the trials is low compliance rate of the participants owing to the unpalatable taste of cranberry extract. A formulation with high levels of cranberry active ingredient and acceptable taste or better mode of administration would be an effective solution to improve compliance for future studies.
Cranberry, pregnancy, urinary tract infection, UTI, proanthocyanidin
Cranberry juice is one of the most commonly used alternative measure to prevent or treat UTIs in females. A number of studies have reported its consumption to be completely safe during pregnancy with no adverse effects either in mother or fetus. Further, there are pilot studies which shown that cranberry may prove to be effective in preventing UTI in pregnancy. The effectiveness though proved by some studies has been questioned by the Cochrane review which reported a non-significant decrease in symptomatic UTIs over a period of 6-12 months [24]. However, recent studies have highlighted that a high dose of cranberry active ingredient is essential to have a statistically significant reduction in cases of bacteriuria [6]. It is believed that many clinical trials considered for the Cochrane review may be under dosed. If future clinical trials are conducted with appropriate dosage, better clarity could be obtained to identify the effectiveness of cranberry in prevention of UTIs in pregnancy. Compliance and tolerability are the major obstacles as the above mentioned trials reported a high withdrawal rate mostly due to gastrointestinal disturbances which can limit its use on grounds of acceptability to women.
-
-
Indexing