Cranberries Nutritional Values and Health Benefits
Cranberries are the fruit of a low-creeping shrub that thrive in the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere. Cranberries are white when unripe, turning deep red only when it is fully ripe.
Cranberries are the one of the most versatile fruits as it can be made into different products and also be found fresh, frozen and in various food products. Cranberries were also use as a dye and medicine to treat wounds by Native Americans.
Nutritional Values
Cranberries are rich in polyphenol antioxidants, which are beneficial to the cardiovascular and immune system. Its high content of phenols, which can also be found in red grapes, have anti-clotting properties. Cranberries contain vitamins C and K, dietary fiber and the essential dietary mineral manganese.
Health Benefits
Once perceived as only a folklore, cranberries role in combating urinary tract and bladder infections have been scientifically proven to be effective. Citric and quinic acids in cranberries increase urine acidity without causing acidosis creates an unsuitable environment for the growth of bacteria in the intestines and genitalia and prevents infections of the bladder and urethra. The phytonutrients in cranberries also inhibit proliferation of human breast cancer cells, both by causing the cancer cells to self-destruct and by switching off the cells' ability to multiply.
A series of studies presented in 2006 show that cranberry juice contains tannins that can change the E. Coli bacteria, including strains that have become resistant to conventional treatment, so as to render them unable to initiate an infection. This makes cranberries potent antibacterial agents, especially when there's increasing concern about the increase in antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria.
Cranberries also work in preventing tooth decay and inhibiting cavities, much in the same way as bladder infection. Compounds in cranberry juice were found to slow the salivary level of Streptocucus mutans, the major cause of tooth decay, and prevented it from sticking to the surface of the 'tooth' thus preventing the development of cavities. However, consuming large quantities of sugar-laden cranberry juice or sauce to protect your teeth as that would only cause, and not prevent, tooth decay.
The quinic acid - a unique acid in that it cannot be broken down in the body but is eliminated unchanged in the urine - in cranberries, which causes the urine to become acidic, also prevent calcium and phosphate ions from joining to form kidney stones. The anti-adhesive property of cranberries has also been shown to prevent Helicobacter pylon, the bacterium responsible for most gastric ulcers, from sticking to the lining of the stomach. Cranberry juice also eradicates this bacterium from the body among women.
Cranberries are the one of the most versatile fruits as it can be made into different products and also be found fresh, frozen and in various food products. Cranberries were also use as a dye and medicine to treat wounds by Native Americans.
Nutritional Values
Cranberries are rich in polyphenol antioxidants, which are beneficial to the cardiovascular and immune system. Its high content of phenols, which can also be found in red grapes, have anti-clotting properties. Cranberries contain vitamins C and K, dietary fiber and the essential dietary mineral manganese.
Health Benefits
Once perceived as only a folklore, cranberries role in combating urinary tract and bladder infections have been scientifically proven to be effective. Citric and quinic acids in cranberries increase urine acidity without causing acidosis creates an unsuitable environment for the growth of bacteria in the intestines and genitalia and prevents infections of the bladder and urethra. The phytonutrients in cranberries also inhibit proliferation of human breast cancer cells, both by causing the cancer cells to self-destruct and by switching off the cells' ability to multiply.
A series of studies presented in 2006 show that cranberry juice contains tannins that can change the E. Coli bacteria, including strains that have become resistant to conventional treatment, so as to render them unable to initiate an infection. This makes cranberries potent antibacterial agents, especially when there's increasing concern about the increase in antibiotic-resistant disease-causing bacteria.
Cranberries also work in preventing tooth decay and inhibiting cavities, much in the same way as bladder infection. Compounds in cranberry juice were found to slow the salivary level of Streptocucus mutans, the major cause of tooth decay, and prevented it from sticking to the surface of the 'tooth' thus preventing the development of cavities. However, consuming large quantities of sugar-laden cranberry juice or sauce to protect your teeth as that would only cause, and not prevent, tooth decay.
The quinic acid - a unique acid in that it cannot be broken down in the body but is eliminated unchanged in the urine - in cranberries, which causes the urine to become acidic, also prevent calcium and phosphate ions from joining to form kidney stones. The anti-adhesive property of cranberries has also been shown to prevent Helicobacter pylon, the bacterium responsible for most gastric ulcers, from sticking to the lining of the stomach. Cranberry juice also eradicates this bacterium from the body among women.
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