For women undergoing elective gynecological surgeries that require the placement of a catheter, cranberry capsules may lower the risk of urinary tract infections by 50 percent, according to a research from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
For the trial, researchers studied 160 participants undergoing surgery, ages 23 to 88, who were divided into two groups — one group took two cranberry extract capsules twice a day for six weeks and the other half took a placebo. Typically, women who undergo elective gynecological procedures have as much as a 64 percent chance to develop a UTI after their catheter is removed.
The study found the UTI reduction rate linked to cranberry juice capsules was approximately 50 percent, which is similar to the reduction rates patients experienced when they took antibiotics as a preventative measure.
"Taking cranberry juice capsules is preferable to taking antibiotics, because limiting antibiotic use helps avoid antibiotic resistance and protects the good bacteria living in and on our bodies from inadvertent damage," said lead author Betsy Foxman, PhD. "We should save antibiotics for UTI treatment, as cranberry juice capsules are equally effective in preventing UTI post-elective gynecologic surgery."
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