A relative of the blueberry, the cranberry, or Vaccinium macrocarpon, is the fruit of a native North American fruit that has been used for hundreds of years as both a food and a medicine. The concentrated juice of the cranberry is taken for a variety of purported health purposes, among them benefits for the cardiovascular system. While little research exists to definitively link cranberry juice and heart disease benefits, such research is being conducted.
Cranberries
Cranberries grow in bogs as an evergreen shrub rich in phenolic compounds with known antioxidant properties. Both the Native Americans and the early English settlers used cranberry to treat an array of ailments, from kidney and bladder diseases to blood disorders and scurvy. By itself, cranberries are quite bitter, which is why sweeteners are usually added when cranberry is juiced to make it palatable. Depending on the sweetener used, this could counter some of the health benefits attributed to the fruit.
Cardiac Benefits
Among the mechanisms by which cranberries may help protect against heart disease, the University of Maryland Medical Center reports that the antioxidants in the fruit may lower LDL cholesterol, or "bad" cholesterol, prevent plaque buildup in the arteries and relax blood vessels. A 2011 study in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" found that chronic cranberry juice consumption could produce an acute benefit in vascular function in people with coronary artery disease but that there was too little evidence to confirm any chronic effect that would lower overall cardiovascular disease risk.
Conflicting Evidence
A 2006 study in the "European Journal of Nutrition" conflicts with the claims of cranberry's cardiac benefits. While researchers acknowledged that in a test tube or petri dish cranberry successfully reduced biomarkers of cholesterol status and oxidative stress related to heart disease risk, in human subjects it produced no such benefit.
Warfarin
People taking the anti-coagulant medication warfarin or other Coumadin-based drugs should avoid cranberry because it could increase the actions of the drug, potentially resulting in excessive bleeding. Among several clinical reports verifying this relationship is a 2006 report in the "American Journal of Therapeutic," which drew a direct link between warfarin and cranberry juice, finding the two interacting to produce substantial bleeding, among other symptoms. The New York University Langone Medical Center recommends caution when you consume more than 8 oz. of cranberry juice per day.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Cranberry; Steven D. Ehrlich; November 2008
- "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Effects Of Cranberry Juice Consumption on Vascular Function in Patients With Coronary Artery Disease; M.M. Dohadwala, et al.; May 2011
- "European Journal of Nutrition"; The Effects of Cranberry Juice Consumption on Antioxidant Status and Biomarkers Relating to Heart Disease and Cancer in Healthy Human Volunteers; S.J. Duthie, et al.; March 2006
- "American Journal of Therapeutics"; Warfarin-Cranberry Juice Interaction Resulting in Profound Hypoprothrombinemia and Bleeding; J.P. Rindone, et al.; May-June 2006
- NYU Langone Medical Center; Warfarin; August 2010
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