Is Cranberry Juice A Citrus Drink?

Citrus juice and cranberry juice alike can play roles in maintaining your health. Choose varieties without added sugar, even though the bracingly tart taste of unsweetened cranberry juice can take some getting used to. If you would like more information about the role that fruit juices should play in your diet, consult your physician or a qualified nutritionist.

Cranberry Juice and Citrus Drinks

Cranberries are not citrus fruits; thus, cranberry juice is not a citrus drink. To qualify as citrus, fruits must belong to the genus "Citrus." Cranberries belong to the genus "Vaccinium." Members of the Vaccinium genus are berries. They include bilberries, blueberries, lingonberries and huckleberries. Unlike citrus fruit, which grow on large flowering shrubs and trees, you can find cranberries growing in marshes on shrublets with low-trailing vines.

Vitamin C

A one-cup serving of cranberry juice contains 39 percent of the average daily requirement for vitamin C. While that is enough to qualify cranberry juice as a good way to get your daily vitamin C, it pales in comparison to the equivalent serving of orange juice, which provides you with 158 percent of the average daily requirement, or grapefruit juice, which provides you with 138 percent. Vitamin C is vital to wound healing and the synthesis of collagen, a component of connective tissue.

Antioxidants

Both citrus juices and cranberry juice are good sources of polyphenols, plant-based compounds with strong antioxidant effects. Antioxidants are substances that combat the oxidative stress caused by cell-attacking free radicals in your body. Free radicals are unstable molecules formed by natural physiological processes and through exposure to environmental pollutants such as cigarette smoke. Oxidative stress has been linked to many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, according to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. A 2008 article in the "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry" compared the antioxidant properties of various beverages and found that cranberry juice ranked slightly higher in its antioxidant potency than orange juice.

Cranberry vs. Citrus for Urinary Tract Infections

A 2008 article in the journal "Phytomedicine" concluded that cranberry juice's reputation as a remedy for urinary tract infections has merit. Early hypotheses proposed that cranberry juice might affect the pH of your urine, but scientific experiments did not bear them out. Cranberry juice appears to work by inhibiting the adhesion of bacteria to tissue cells. This effect is not seen with orange juice or grapefruit juice. Cranberry juice is better for prevention than for fighting established urinary tract infections. According to the authors, cranberry juice is typically free of adverse effects, except if you are prone to kidney stones. Talk to your doctor before using fruit juices for therapeutic purposes.