Cranberry Juice Nutrients

Cranberry juice is thought to have many benefits for your health. Cranberry juice is high in antioxidants and raises the levels of healthy antioxidant nutrients in your blood. Antioxidants have been shown to help prevent heart disease. Contrary to popular belief, cranberry juice does not cure bladder infections.

Types

As stated in "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," cranberry juice contains a type of antioxidants known as flavanol polymers. Flavanol polymers are beneficial to you because they help prevent cancer. Flavanol polymers are what give cranberry juice its bitter taste and its astringency.

Effects

If you are a non-chronically ill adult, 10 oz. of cranberry juice cocktail per day, may help prevent urinary tract infection and gastrointestinal ulcers, as reported by MayoClinic.com.

Considerations

As stated in Nutrient Facts, if you drink 8 oz. of cranberry juice drink with added vitamin C, you will be consuming 140 calories, and 150 percent of your daily value for vitamin C. Drink sugar-free cranberry juice if you have diabetes or elevated triglyceride levels. If after starting to drink cranberry juice on a daily basis, you experience stomach distress and diarrhea, you may need to discontinue it.

Benefits

According to American Family Physician, if you drink cranberry juice daily, the nutrients obtained may reduce your chances of heart disease by as much as 40 percent. Your levels of HDL, also known as high-density lipoprotein or good cholesterol will also increase.

Warning

If you have a history of oxalate kidney stones, you should avoid drinking a lot of cranberry juice according to The New York Times Health Guide. If you are allergic to aspirin, you should avoid cranberry juice since it contains a compound called salicylic acid, which is similar to aspirin, as mentioned in Medline Plus.