Each year, UTI (urinary tract infection), affects eight million people (mostly women, elderly and infants) resulting to $1.6bn (€1.3bn) in health care costs.

A new study by scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) found that cranberry juice compounds could be a viable alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of UTI especially against E. coli bacteria that have become resistant to conventional treatment.

While the mechanism by which cranberry juice prevents UTIs and other bacterial infections is not yet fully understood by scientists, they suspect that the compounds in the juice in some way prevent the bacteria from adhering to the lining of the urinary tract.

Results of this new study revealed that a group of tannins (called proanthocyanidins) found primarily in cranberries affect E. coli in three ways, all of which prevent the bacteria from adhering to cells in the body, a necessary first step in all infections:

Over time, the normally rod-shaped bacteria became spherical - a transformation that has never before been observed in E. coli.

The E. coli bacteria, all of which fall into a class called gram-negative bacteria, began behaving like gram-positive bacteria - another never-before-seen phenomenon.

E. coli bacteria exposed to cranberry juice appear to lose the ability to secrete indole, a molecule involved in a form of bacterial communication called quorum sensing.

These results suggest that the tannins in cranberry juice can alter the membranes of E. coli and prevent E. coli quorum sensing thereby preventing the initiation of a successful infection.

These results have been presented on September 10, at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in San Francisco where it was reported that cranberry juice can transform E.coli in radical ways and making the tannins found in it, potential potent antibacterial agents.

Source: NutraIngredients