You're probably familiar with cranberries and turmeric as ingredients in various foods. But they are both also powerful medicinal plants as well, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center or UMMC. Cranberry fruits and the root of the turmeric plant, which contains the medicinal component curcumin, are used for both culinary and medicinal uses. Before you begin to treat health conditions with cranberries or turmeric, seek the advice of your health care provider.
Cranberry Uses
One of the more common uses for cranberry juice is to prevent or treat urinary tract infections or UTIs, according to the UMMC. Cranberry has been shown in clinical studies to reduce the recurrence of UTIs when the test subjects drank cranberry juice daily or took cranberry capsules. But cranberry is less effective in treating UTIs once they occur. You should see your health care provider if you get a UTI. Cranberries have antiviral, antifungal, antioxidant and antibacterial properties says the U.S. National Library of Medicine or USNLM. These make cranberries a common treatment for such other conditions as kidney stones, ulcers, heart disease and gum disease.
Turmeric Uses
The curcumin in turmeric makes it a potential treatment for conditions like atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries, osteoarthritis, stomach ulcers, ulcerative colitis, indigestion, bacterial and viral infections and eye infections, reports the UMMC. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center or MSKCC adds that turmeric is also potentially useful in cancer prevention, to treat kidney stones and to relieve inflammation. And the USNLM lists scabies, rheumatoid arthritis, liver protection, irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, high cholesterol, gallstone prevention and blood clot prevention as conditions for which turmeric may one day be used.
Cranberry Research
Two studies on cranberry were also recently described on PubMed.gov. The first is a study of cranberry's effects in preventing UTIs. This study was conducted at the University of Catania Department of Microbiological and Gynaecological Sciences in Catania, Italy and published in "International Journal of Immunopathology and Pharmacology" in April-June of 2010. The results showed that cranberry was able to keep the infectious cells from adhering to the walls of the bladder and urethra, preventing the UTI. The subjects taking the placebos had no effect, compared to the positive effect on the subjects using cranberry. Another study of cranberry was conducted at the Institut Armand-Frappier Research Laboratory in Applied Food Science in Laval, Quebec, Canada and published in "Critical Reviews in Food Science & Nutrition" in August 2010. This study examined the medicinal properties of cranberry. The results showed that cranberry has strong antioxidant, antibacterial and cancer-preventing properties. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine is currently funding studies to better understand the effects of cranberry in preventing UTI. The center is also funding studies of the medicinal effects of turmeric and its medicinal component, curcumin. Some of these studies are specifically looking at turmeric's abilities to treat liver cancer and post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Turmeric Research
There have been a number of recent research studies on the medicinal effects of turmeric that have been published on the PubMed.gov website. Among the most notable ones were two involving turmeric. The first study was conducted at the University of New England School of Science and Technology in Armidale, Australia and published in "Phytotherapy Research" in August of 2010. This study showed promising results for the use of turmeric to regulate insulin production. This would make it a potential treatment for some forms of diabetes. But there needs to be more study to determine how to use it for this purpose. The second study involved using an extract of curcumin from turmeric to investigate its cancer prevention abilities. This study was conducted at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina and was published in "Journal of Experimental Therapeutics and Oncology" in 2010. The results of the study showed that curcumin was able to help decrease the number of breast cancer cells in the samples used. The results are quite promising for the cancer prevention potential of curcumin.
Possible Side Effects
The UMMC explains that the amounts of cranberry or turmeric used in foods or normal consumption are considered to be quite safe. But you should not take large amounts of them without the guidance of a health care provider. Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding are safe to eat turmeric in foods, but should not take large amounts of it until more is known about its safety to the unborn or nursing child. The USNLM warns that a few people may have allergic reactions to turmeric, so watch for signs of a reaction if you've never taken it before.
Potential Interactions
Taking medicinal amounts of either turmeric or cranberry may harmfully interact with other prescriptions, over-the-counter medications or supplements you take. According to the UMCC, taking cranberry or turmeric with blood thinners or antacids is not advised. The USNLM adds that turmeric should not be taken with blood pressure medications, diabetes medications, over the counter anti-inflammatory drugs such as naproxen or ibuprophen, or cholesterol-lowering drugs. If you have questions about these potential interactions, talk to your pharmacist or health care provider.
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