Juice Plus+® is recommended for those who do not eat enough fruits and vegetables.
Cranberries are a good food with many antioxidant properties. Like any fruit or vegetable, it is best in its unadulterated form. The whole food is always better than you might find with the juice form, mainly because most times there is added sugar. And sugar is one of the top contributors to many health problems, including obesity.
Cranberries and the juice that most people like to consume made from them, has properties that seem to prevent or assist with healing certain infections, bladder specifically. Look at some of the reasons for this and why cranberries are healthy --
1. Acidifying or alkalizing action: It is said that an acidic environment can cure bladder or kidney stones. Cranberries also have high vitamin C content which makes the urine all the more acidic. However, you need to drink high concentration of cranberry juice to fight against the infections. Women with negative urine culture can also consume cranberries to reduce the symptoms of bladder infections.
2. Inhibiting bacterial microbes: The urinary tract infections are caused due to E-coli bacterium that sticks to the bladder walls and impairs functioning of urinary bladder. The cranberry juice contains condensed tannins and proanthocyanidins that restrict the sticking of bacterium on the bladder walls. Later on, the bacterium gets flushed out of the urinary tract. It can also be used to treat stomach ulcers and tooth decay.
3. Cranberries are effective antioxidants. Two glasses of cranberry juice can keep the bacterial infections at a bay. The natural remedy improves the immune system of the body. Moreover, the juice dampens the smell of urine which is a common phenomenon among individuals using catheters. People who are victim of recurrent UTI can notice decreased infection after consumption of cranberry juice. (Source)
More information on cranberries and cranberry juice interactions with anticoagulants --
Most people know that cranberry juice can help lower the risk of urinary infections, at least in some cases. But in 2003, doctors found what appeared to be a less beneficial side effect.
A handful of people taking the popular anticoagulant warfarin complained that drinking large amounts of cranberry juice seemed to heighten the drug’s effects, causing unusual bleeding. Soon, other reports of cranberry complications came to light, and investigators theorized that compounds in the fruit might deactivate an enzyme that normally breaks down warfarin, prompting British health officials to issue warnings.
But many experts now suspect that the cases were coincidental. A clinical study by researchers at Tufts, for example, found no evidence that cranberry juice enhanced warfarin’s effects. Nor did a separate study in 2007 that tested the effects of drinking about seven ounces of cranberry juice a day in people taking warfarin.
Dr. Jack Ansell, chairman of the department of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, and some colleagues found in a randomized, double-blind study that patients on warfarin who drank up to eight ounces of cranberry juice a day had no greater risk of bleeding than those given a placebo.
“My recommendation to patients on warfarin therapy is that they should feel free to drink cranberry juice in moderation,” Dr. Ansell said.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Cranberry juice, in moderation, appears to be safe for anticoagulant users. (Source)
NOTE: One thing that is interesting to note, is that Juice Plus+® has a Berry, also called Vineyard, Blend that is made with 9 different grapes and berries, cranberry included. While it may not be all that common, this author and family - all of whom take the Juice Plus+® Orchard and Garden Blend along with the Vineyard Blend - have not had bladder infections or kidney stones in the four plus years that these have been consumed (on a daily basis). Coincidence? Maybe. But if you don't get enough fruits and vegetables in your diet, it may be another reason to consider adding Juice Plus+ to your diet. The Orchard Blend also contains cranberries!
Either way, a diet rich in whole food, raw fruits and vegetables is the best defense against any condition, sickness, or disease.
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