Cranberries could help in treatment of stomach ulcersIt has been known for quite some time that a urinary tract infection (UTI) can be treated with cranberries. A less well known benefit of cranberries is their ability to help to treat a stomach ulcer. Urine infections and stomach ulcers are both caused by bacteria. The bacteria that causes a urine infection is E. coli. It originates in the gut and passes up the urethra to the bladder. A study published in the journal Age and Ageing in 2005 found that older people who drank cranberry juice had a lower rate of E. coli compared with those taking a placebo. Patients receiving 300ml of cranberry juice had half the rate of urine infections as the ones receiving the matching placebo. In 2002, a research study tested the effect of cranberry juice on the antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli. The urine of healthy female volunteers was tested after they had consumed cranberry juice. The juice prevented the adhesion of 31 of the 39 E. coli strains (80 percent). This effect was evident in as little as two hours and persisted for up to 10 hours after participants drank the cranberry juice. Cranberries do not actually kill bacteria, they are so effective because they prevent the bacteria from sticking to tissues and allowing the infection to set in. New research shows that cranberries may also work against the bacterium that causes stomach ulcers i.e. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). You can test for H. pylori at home using a stomach ulcer home test. In a clinical trial, participants who tested positive for H. pylori took either 250ml of cranberry juice or a placebo every day. After 90 days, at the end of the trial, around 14 percent of the people who took cranberry tested negative for H. pylori as compared with about 5 percent of those who took the placebo. The trial showed that cranberries could be a useful addition to other treatments for H. pylori. If you would like more information on the home test for urine infections please click here. If you would like more information on the home test for stomach ulcers please click here.
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