WORCESTER, Mass., Mar 10, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Chemicals present in
cranberries prevent infection-causing bacteria from attaching to the cells that
line the urinary tract, U.S. researchers said.
Paola Pinzon-Arango, Yatao Liu and Terri Camesano of Worcester Polytechnic
Institute in Massachusetts, exposed E. coli grown in culture to either light
cranberry juice cocktail or cranberry proanthocyanidins -- chemicals found in
cranberry products -- and measured the adhesion forces between the bacteria and
a silicon surface using atomic force microscopy.
The study demonstrated that the longer the bacteria were exposed to either the
cranberry juice or the proanthocyanidins the greater the decrease in bacterial
attachment.
The study authors noted the effect was reversible -- bacteria grew again in an
environment without cranberry juice or proanthocyanidins regaining the ability
to attach to the model surface.
"Cranberries, one of only three species of fruits native to North America, has a
long history of medicinal food use. Native Americans used the fruit for the
treatment of bladder and kidney ailments hundreds of years ago," said Dr.
Sheldon S. Hendler, co-editor in chief of the Journal of Medicinal Food, and of
the University of California, San Diego, said in a statement.
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