EFFECTIVE ROLE OF CRANBERRY AGAINST E. COLI URINARY TRACT ADHESIONS; A REVIEW

Abstract

Urinary tract infections have emerged as one of the most notorious bacterial infections in primary health care, and its increasing resistance against most of the available antibiotics makes it prominent among common diseases. Individuals with antibiotic resistance could be on higher risk of getting UTI repeatedly. Therefore, either we need to establish a controlled/prescribed antibiotic use or to find other treatment options, nutritional interventions can play a good role in this regard. A common fruit with a huge number of benefits, Cranberry has been used by North American Indians to treat multiple medicinal conditions including UTI. This review demonstrates the role of cranberry in UTI management by preventing the adhesion of E. coli in the urinary tract. Cranberry appears to work by inhibiting the adhesion of type I and P-fimbriated Escherichia coli to the uroepithelium, thus hinder the colonization and upcoming infections. Adhesion can be averted by 2 ingredients of cranberries: laevulose that prevents binding of type 1 fimbriae and pro-anthocyanidins by preventing pfimbriae binding. The anti-adherent effect initiates in 2 hours and remains for up to 10 hours after consumption of cranberry. Findings suggest that the use of cranberry can be an effective treatment option along with antibiotics or exclusively for UTI cases.