ORIGINAL ARTICLECranberry juice and bacterial colonization in children—A placebo-controlled randomized trial☆
Introduction
Many plants produce antimicrobial compounds in response to microbial invasion,1 and when ingested, they may modulate the bacterial flora. Changes in cattle nutrition have been shown to result in changes in their bacterial colonic flora.2 Berries of Vaccinium family (blueberry, lingonberry and cranberry) and their extracts have marked antibacterial activity against many human bacteria in vitro.3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 In three randomized controlled trials, cranberry juice has been shown to prevent bacteruria in elderly people and urinary tract infections (UTI) in women and it has been suggested as an alternative to antimicrobials for UTI prevention.13, 14, 15 It is thought to act by inhibiting the adhesion of Eschericia coli to uroepithelial cells by proanthocyanidins.7 The broad in vitro antimicrobial spectrum raises expectations of even wider beneficial effects in infection control, but at the same time concerns about adverse events during continuous use. We were interested in studying cranberry administration in children, since many children with recurrent UTI will need antimicrobial prophylaxis for years, which is not without problems.16, 17 Alternatives are needed, but the acceptability of cranberries has been questioned as well.18 To evaluate this, we conducted a double-blind randomized trial to assess the acceptability of cranberry juice and resulting changes in bacterial flora and in infections and their symptoms among children in day care centers.
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Population and design
The participants were recruited from children attending day care centres in the city of Oulu. Children receiving continuous antimicrobial treatment or having marked immunological defects were excluded. We organized evening sessions to tell the parents about the possibility of participating in the trial, and those for whom signed, informed consent had been obtained were screened by tympanometry and/or pneumatic otoscopy and only the ones with normal ear status were accepted. These children were
Results
The mean age of the children was 4.3 years, ranging from 1 to 7 years (Table 1), and the background characteristics of the two groups were similar (Table 1). The number of drop-outs during the 3 months was 18 (11%) in the cranberry group and 11 (7%) in the placebo group (Table 1, Fig. 1). Most of the doses were taken as instructed, with 139 (84%) and 129 (77%) children, respectively, taking at least 90% of the doses (Table 1).
There were no statistically significant changes in the nasopharyngeal
Discussion
Cranberry juice at a dose of 5 ml/kg was well accepted by the children, and their compliance over the 3 months exceeded that recorded for long-term antimicrobial prophylaxis.16 There was no single reason compromising its use. The regimen of doses three times a day was easily adopted by the children and their families, since 84% of the children in the cranberry group took more than 90% of their doses.
Cranberries, like other berries of the Vaccinium family have a wide antimicrobial spectrum in
Acknowledgments
Tero Kontiokari and Matti Uhari initiated and coordinated the formulation of the primary hypothesis. Jarmo Salo and Tero Kontiokari were responsible for patient recruitment and the clinical work. All three discussed the core ideas, designed the protocol and participated in analysing the data, interpreting the results and writing the paper. Erkki Eerola performed the fatty acid analysis, analyzed the data and helped to interpret the results. He also contributed the description of the fatty acid
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This study was supported financially by the Juho Vainio Foundation and Ocean Spray Cranberries.