An evergreen shrub native to North America, the cranberry plant produces a dark red berry often used to make juice. Drinking this antioxidant-rich juice during pregnancy benefits your body in a variety of ways and may even keep you from suffering from a painful urinary tract infection that could lead to potentially serious pregnancy complications.
Time Frame
The American Pregnancy Association states that your chances of developing a urinary tract infection during pregnancy increase during week 6 through week 24 of gestation. This increased risk generally develops as a direct result of the uterus' increasing size, which puts extra pressure and weight on your bladder, often prohibiting urine from draining freely from your bladder. Drinking cranberry juice during this period of your pregnancy may help reduce your chances of developing a urinary tract infection.
Benefits
The University of Maryland Medical Center notes that studies indicate cranberry juice keeps bacteria from securing themselves to the walls of your urinary tract, which inhibits them from multiplying and causing an infection. Another major benefit of cranberry juice during pregnancy is its ability to provide your body with high doses of antioxidants, including vitamin C, which protect you and your unborn baby from free radicals, particles in your body that hurt and kill cells. Drinking an 8-oz. cup of cranberry juice daily also helps keep your body hydrated during pregnancy.
Warning
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine notes that cranberry products--including juice--shouldn't be used to treat a urinary tract infection. Untreated urinary tract infections during pregnancy may lead to more serious complications, including a kidney infection and premature birth, so be sure to contact your obstetrician or midwife as soon as you notice signs of a urinary tract infection. According to the APA, possible symptoms of a urinary tract infection during gestation include pain or burning during urination, bloody urine, abdominal cramps and changes in your urination habits.
Efficacy
Although cranberry juice seems to help prevent urinary tract infections in pregnant women, you should practice other preventative measures to further minimize your chances of developing this potentially serious infection while pregnant. According to the APA, other preventative techniques include drinking minimally six to eight glasses of water daily, urinating regularly, changing your underwear each day and wiping from front to back after urination.
Considerations
Pure cranberry juice generally provides the most benefit for your body during pregnancy, but it also possesses a distinctly bitter taste that prevents most people from consuming it plain. Cranberry juice cocktails and mixed fruit drinks that contain 100 percent juice generally provide your daily amount of vitamin C, but they also have a decreased ability to protect your pregnant body from UTI-inducing bacteria. If you do opt to use pure cranberry juice or concentrate, be prepared to sweeten it up with a bit of natural sweetener, such as honey, to make it more palatable.
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