Oligosaccharides in cranberries can prevent UTI – study

Researchers from the University of Mississippi and the University of Georgia examined the effects of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) consumption on Escherichia coli adhesion in porcine urine. The results of their study were published in the Journal of Natural Products.

• Cranberry juice is used in traditional medicine to prevent urinary tract infections (UTI).
• In human studies, consumption of cranberry juice can effectively prevent E.coli adhesion in urine samples, but the compounds responsible for this effect are yet to be identified.
• To address this, the researchers fed adult female sows five grams of spray-dried cranberry powder per kilogram body weight per day and collected urine samples via catheter.
• They tested the samples for anti-adhesion activity using a human red blood cell (A+) anti-hemagglutination assay with uropathogenic P-fimbriated E.coli.
• They used gel filtration chromatography to isolate components from the urine samples and subjected these compounds to HPLC.
• The researchers reported that active urine fractions contained many oligosaccharides but not proanthocyanidins.
• They managed to isolate sufficient amounts of a single representative arabinoxyloglucan octasaccharide with sufficient purity for full characterization.
• They found that cranberry samples also contained the same oligosaccharides, and these compounds exhibited anti-adhesion properties in preliminary testing.

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that oligosaccharides structurally related to those found in cranberries are responsible for the anti-adhesion effects observed after cranberry consumption.

Read the full article at this link.

Journal Reference:

Coleman CM, Auker KM, Killday KB, Azadi P, Black I, Ferreira D. ARABINOXYLOGLUCAN OLIGOSACCHARIDES MAY CONTRIBUTE TO THE ANTIADHESIVE PROPERTIES OF PORCINE URINE AFTER CRANBERRY CONSUMPTION. Journal of Natural Products. 25 March 2019;82(3):589–605. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.8b01043