Cranberry Juice Is No Better Than Placebo for Preventing UTIs

Cranberry juice for the prevention of urinary tract infections (UTIs) is one of the most durable folk remedies around, but attempts to prove its value have yielded results scattered all over the map. Some researchers have found it is worthless, whereas others have found it to be almost as potent as an antibiotic.

In a randomized double-blind trial from Michigan, researchers assigned 155 healthy college-age women who sought medical care for UTIs to ingest low-calorie cranberry juice (8 oz twice daily) for 6 months after completion of antibiotic treatment. Another 164 women received placebo liquid carefully formulated to mimic real juice in all ways, except that it contained no proanthocyanidin, the moiety in cranberry juice that is thought to…