Researchers from the universities of Granada (Spain) and Kvopio (Finland) have confirmed that cranberry extract helps to fight urinary tract infections (UTIs) in breastfed babies less than 12 months old.
Their work has proven that this compound prevents the prescription of antibiotics in the prophylaxis of recurrent urinary tract infections in infants with vesico-ureteral reflux (VUR), so preventing the risk of increasing bacterial antibiotic resistance.
This research, published in Anales de Pediatría (Annals of Pediatrics), was funded by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III institute. It was done in collaboration with the university's Department of Analytical Chemistry and the Research and Development of Functional Food Centre, through professor Antonio Segura Carretero, and that of the University of Kvopio, Finland, through professor Tarja Nurmi.
The research involved the participation of 85 children under one year of age and 107 older children, all of whom were affected by a recurrent urinary infection: 75 children were given a cranberry extract, whereas the other 117 were given trimethoprim, a bacteriostatic antibiotic derived from trimethoxybenzyl pyrimidine, used almost exclusively to treat urinary infections.
The lead author of this work, professor José Uberos Fernández from the Department of Pediatrics (UGR), notes that, according to analysis done at CIDAF, the composition of commercially available cranberry extracts is heterogeneous, and not all the polyphenolic fractions in them are equally useful.
Given the results, 'cranberry extract, which in previous research had already shown effectiveness in preventing urinary infections in adults, is also effective and safe for breastfed infants with this condition.' Cranberry extract effects have been, after numerous in vitro tests, classically linked to the amount of proanthocyanidins present in the extract. 'This molecule is quickly metabolised in the intestine, and our research has proven that the concentration of proanthocyanidins detected in urine is very little,' Professor Uberos says.
The researcher from UGR emphasises: 'The in vivo (that is, in humans) anti-adhesive effect, seems to be derived from the proanthocyanidins intermediate metabolites and to other polyphenolic molecules present in cranberry extract. In this regard, some phenolic acids derived from metabolised cranberries seem to have some very interesting anti-adhesive properties, and that's something my team of researchers is working on.'
Moreover, the researchers intend to clarify if its anti-inflammatory properties (also noted by other authors) can improve nephropathies following pyelonephritis and reflux, present in other patients.
