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Cranberries or Antibiotics for Recurrent UTI?

Antibiotics bested cranberry capsules in preventing urinary tract infections. The research was conducted among more than 200 Dutch women who had experienced at least three urinary tract infections during the previous year. The volunteers were randomized to receive either preventive antibiotics or cranberry capsules. The antibiotic used was a combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole, frequently known by the brand names Bactrim or Septra.

The women who took the cranberry capsules averaged about four infections over the course of the next year. Those on antibiotics averaged only two infections. Although such results favor the prophylactic use of antibiotics, resistance to the medication developed quite quickly. Side effects and drug interaction problems associated with these antibiotics make regular, long-term use problematic. It may be that cranberry juice is more effective than cranberry capsules. Cranberries are far less likely to be associated with bacterial resistance.

[Archives of Internal Medicine, online July 25, 2011]

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About the Author
Terry Graedon, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and co-host of The People’s Pharmacy radio show, co-author of The People’s Pharmacy syndicated newspaper columns and numerous books, and co-founder of The People’s Pharmacy website. Terry taught in the Duke University School of Nursing and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology. Terry is one of the country's leading authorities on the science behind folk remedies..
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