Ocean Spray Reveals New Health Drink to Fight UTI’s

13 Dec 2016 --- Ocean Spray have announced the launch of Cranberry +health juice drink. The drink will be available in hospitals, managed-care facilities and retirement homes across the United States and act as a potential nutritional approach to help reduce urinary tract infections (UTIs).

UTIs are the second most common infection, and catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTIs) are the most common healthcare-associated infection, with significant associated costs.

Many studies have shown that cranberries can be an effective method in reducing UTIs, including CAUTIs. This includes a study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, which showed that cranberries reduced the rate of UTI by about half among women undergoing elective benign gynecological surgery who needed urinary catheterization.

However, the launch of Cranberry +health comes after a recent study by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) claimed to find that cranberries had little effect when it comes to treating UTI’s, something that the cranberry industry as a whole has since heavily disputed.

"The study published in JAMA tested only pills, not juice," Christina Khoo, Ph.D., Director of Global Health Sciences and Regulatory Affairs at Ocean Spray tells NutritionInsight.

"The pills did not contain whole cranberry fruit or juice. By contrast, more than 50 years of research, including the most comprehensive, general population clinical trial conducted to date, proves that cranberry juice is beneficial in helping to prevent urinary tract infections."

"This is why numerous respected medical and nutrition groups recommend that for the best results, people should eat cranberries or drink cranberry juice cocktail (with 27% cranberry content) rather than take pills."

Ocean Spray is keen to highlight how its new drink could offer a nutritional alternative to treating the common infection, and a study looking into its effectiveness seems to do just that.

In a clinical study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN), the Cranberry +health formula was shown to reduce symptomatic UTIs by nearly 40 percent in women who drank eight ounces per day.

"Cranberry +health product contains the highest concentration of unique cranberry compounds, including proanthocyanidincs (PACs), available among Ocean Spray juice products on the market," says Khoo.

"One 8-ounce (240 mL) serving of Cranberry +health product is made with 120 milligrams of PACs with only 35 calories and 6 grams of sugar. Studies show that cranberries can be an effective method in preventing UTIs through their ability to block the bacteria that cause them."

She adds, "Ocean Spray has addressed healthcare needs for many years and therefore, our cranberry juice cocktail has been a mainstay juice product in hospitals and long-term care facilities for quite some time."

“Cranberry +health may be part of a more holistic solution to help lower healthcare costs associated with UTIs and CAUTIs, by reducing the occurrence of those infections,” says Khoo.

“This exciting new product gives healthcare providers a potential nutritional alternative for their patients that can help manage UTIs.”

by Hannah Gardiner