Cranberry juice is obtained from the berries of the Vaccinium macrocarpon plant, and it has potential use as a preventive against infections of the urinary tract. Consumption of cranberry juice can significantly raise your body’s levels of a substance called oxalate. Along with calcium, oxalate is a major component of certain types of kidney stones. Consult your doctor before using cranberry juice as a treatment for any ailment.
Cranberry Juice
V. macrocarpon is an evergreen shrub found across North America. Native Americans traditionally used its berries to treat urinary problems, and that usage has continued into the 21st century. Cranberry juice and extract appear to achieve their effects by stopping harmful bacteria from anchoring themselves to the cells that line the urinary tract. In addition to urinary problems, conditions that may benefit from cranberry use include infection of the bacteria that cause stomach ulcers, enlargement of the prostate gland, chronic fatigue syndrome, pleurisy and cancer. Further research is needed to judge cranberry’s true effectiveness in treating these disorders, MayoClinic.com and MedlinePlus report.
Understanding Oxalate
Oxalate is a substance found in relatively high amounts in foods such as okra, peanuts, beets, spinach, rhubarb, chocolate, sweet potatoes, black tea and soybeans. Kidney stones formed from a combination of oxalate and calcium are more common than any other type of kidney stone, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. Roughly 20 percent of people with calcium oxalate stones have a condition called hyperoxaluria, which is characterized by abnormally high levels of oxalate in urine. People with this condition can typically lower their risk of developing kidney stones by reducing the oxalate content of their diets.
Limiting Juice Intake
Both cranberry juice and cranberry juice extracts contain high amounts of oxalate, and some extracts can potentially boost the oxalate levels in your urine by more than 40 percent. For these reasons, consumption of cranberry juice may raise the risk of kidney stones in people who have a history of stone formation. MedlinePlus recommends that people with such a history avoid drinking large amounts of cranberry juice, in addition to avoiding consumption of all forms of cranberry extract.
Considerations
If you don’t have hyperoxaluria, reducing your oxalate intake won’t lower your risk of calcium oxalate kidney stone formation, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. In addition, oxalate does not play a role in the formation of other less common types of kidney stones, including struvite stones, calcium phosphate stones, uric acid stones and cystine stones. What’s more, cranberry juice consumption may reduce your urine levels of the kidney stone component calcium, MayoClinic.com notes. Consult your doctor for more information on the potential effects of the consumption of cranberry juice and the formation of kidney stones.
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