Cranberry Juice: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects and More!

Introduction

Cranberries are typically sour, a bit sweet and rarely bitter. These delicious little berries are considered a functional food. Add to your salads or simply grind them in a jar, cranberries make for excellent addition to any dish. Cranberry juice is a delicious beverage with an attractive bright red color thanks to the anthocyanin pigment present in it. It has high amount of acidity and tartness and less amount of sugars, making it a great combination with other sweet fruit juices.^1,2 

Cranberry juice can be easily made at home; you need fresh ripe cranberries. The juice can be obtained by cold pressing or simply blending the berries in a juicer. If you don’t like their sour taste, add some sugar to cut through the sourness. You can also store the cranberry juice in a sealed dark container till you feel like sipping on it at a later time.¹ 

The cranberry plant that produces these berries is an evergreen shrub mainly grown for its red, delicious cranberries. It is cultivated in North and South America, Great Britain, Australia, Newzealand and Europe. It is scientifically known as Vaccinium and belongs to the family Ericaceae.² 

Let’s read more about this sweet and sour juice and its potential uses, benefits, and side effects. 

Nutritional Value of Cranberry Juice:

Cranberries are healthy fruits with a whopping 85% water content. Cranberry juice has high nutritional value because of its chemical composition. It has a relatively low sugar content and a high amount of organic acids, vitamins, minerals, flavonoids, and anthocyanins.² It is packed with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  

The nutritional value of cranberry juice is as follows: 

• Energy: 46 kcal
• Fats: 0.13 g
• Protein: 0.39 g
• Sugars: 12.1 g
• Carbohydrates: 12.2 g
• Fibre: 0.1 mg
• Zinc: 0.1 mg
• Selenium: 0.1 µg
• Iron: 0.25 mg
• Sodium: 2 mg
• Copper: 0.055 mg
• Calcium: 8 mg
• Magnesium: 6 mg
• Potassium: 77 mg
• Phosphorus: 13 mg
• Vitamin B2: 0.018 mg
• Vitamin E: 12 mg
• Vitamin B1: 0.009 mg
• Vitamin C: 9.3 mg
• Vitamin B3: 0.091 mg
• Vitamin B9: 1 µg
• Vitamin B6: 0.052 mg
• Vitamin K: 5.1 µg
• Vitamin A: 45 IU
• Beta-carotene: 27 µg

  Also Read: Pomegranate Juice: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects and More!

Properties of Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice is a rich source of valuable phytochemicals, such as vitamins and phenolic compounds, which may contribute to its biological properties listed below.² 

• It may have antioxidant activity 
• It may have antimicrobial activity 
• It may have anti-cancer activity 
• It may have anti-inflammatory action 
• It may have a cholesterol-lowering ability 
• It may have a blood sugar-lowering activity 
• It may have a blood pressure-lowering effect 
• It may be beneficial for heart health.^1,2 

Back in the day, Native Americans used cranberries to tackle the damage done by arrow wounds. Cranberries were also used to dye rugs and blankets. Now, cranberries have shown a myriad of health benefits.

Dr. Siddharth Gupta, B.A.M.S, M.D (Ayu)

Potential Uses of Cranberry Juice:

Cranberry juice might be beneficial for health and may be recommended for daily use owing to its high nutritional profile.¹ Some potential uses of cranberry juice are as follows: 

1. Potential Uses of Cranberry Juice for Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

The most well-known benefits of cranberry juice are that it may be beneficial for urinary tract infections (UTI). The UTI incidence increases with age. Few antibiotics are proven effective, but they carry side effects too. Therefore, non-antibiotic strategies like drinking cranberry juice have been considered.⁴ 

The health benefits of cranberry juice might be associated with the presence of A-type proanthocyanidins antioxidant. It may decrease the attachment activities of bacteria that cause urinary tract infections. The French Food Safety Authority (Apr 2004) statement suggests that proanthocyanidins from cranberries might help reduce the adhesion of certain E. coli types pathogenic bacteria to the urinary tract.¹ 

This information is insufficient because there is lack of studies in humans. We require more human trials to back this claim. Therefore, you should speak to your doctor and only then have cranberry juice for UTIs. 

2. Potential Uses of Cranberry Juice for Cholesterol

The benefits of cranberry juice may be because of its antioxidant activity. Anthocyanins are important antioxidants that might be effective in lowering cholesterol levels. They play an important role in free-radical scavenging, which might benefit by reducing the low-density lipoproteins (the ”bad” cholesterol) in the body and may help produce ”good” cholesterol.¹  

However, this information is insufficient as these studies are not done on humans. Hence, more studies on humans are required to back this claim. Therefore, it is essential to first speak to your concerned doctors and only use cranberry juice as a medicine. 

3. Potential Uses of Cranberry Juice for Dental Health

The health benefits of cranberry juice may have potential uses in the management of dental disease. The antibacterial properties of cranberry juice might stop the sticking of bacteria to the surface tooth, which may be beneficial in decreasing the formation of dental plaques. However, this information is insufficient and requires more clinically tested proof on humans.⁴ Therefore, it is necessary to take a doctor’s advice before using cranberry juice for dental health. 

4. Other Potential Uses of Cranberry Juice

• The health benefit of cranberry juice might be seen in cold, flu, urinary and digestive problems.² 
• In older times, sailors used cranberry juice to manage diseases like scurvy ( a vitamin C deficiency) given its high vitamin C content.² 
• Cranberry juice might be beneficial in lowering blood sugar levels in the body which has been seen in both in-vitro and animal studies.² 
• Drinking cranberry juice might show a reduction in urinary odour.⁴ 
• One of the benefits of drinking cranberry juice might be its use for lowering kidney stones. An old case study by Light et al. (1973) showed that people who drink cranberry juice show a reduction in urinary calcium excretion, which might be useful with recurrent renal stones.⁴ 
• Cranberry juice may have anti-carcinogenic properties, which might be associated with its effects on enzymes important in carcinogenesis.⁴ 

Though there are studies showing the benefits of cranberry juice in various conditions, these are insufficient, and there is a need for further studies to establish the true extent of the benefits of cranberry juice on human health. Every person may respond differently to these herbs. Therefore, it is important to consult a doctor before using cranberry juice for any medical condition as a replacement for conventional medical treatment.  

Cranberries may help improve digestive health for people consuming an animal-based diet. Cranberries do so by reducing the bad microbes found in the colon.

Dr. Rajeev Singh, BAMS

Also Read: Carrot Beetroot Juice: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects and More!

How to Use Cranberry Juice?

The cranberry juice uses are as follows: 

• Cranberry juice can be used as a natural preservative in food.¹ 
• It can be used to make cranberry syrup and jams.¹ 
• It can be used as a fresh, delicious drink with sweeteners or mixed with other juices.² 

• The concentrated cranberry juice can be diluted to make cranberry cocktails.⁴ 

You should consult an Ayurvedic physician before drinking cranberry juice on a daily basis. In addition, we recommend you do not replace or discontinue your ongoing medications with any herbal preparations without seeking the medical advice of a doctor. They will guide the best form and dosage in which the herb can be used per your health condition. 

Side Effects of Cranberry Juice

Drinking cranberry juice every day in moderate volume has not shown any side effects.⁴ However, excess consumption might be dangerous to health. The cranberry juice side effects are described as follows:  Cranberry juice contains a high amount of oxalate and long-term intake may precipitate urinary stone formation, which might lead to kidney stones.⁴  

However, if you already have kidney-related issues, we recommend you avoid having the juice. And if you experience such side effects, immediately seek medical attention from your physician. They will prescribe you a better treatment. 

Precautions to Take with Cranberry Juice

Drinking cranberry juice in a moderate dosage is safe. However, general precautions must be followed. 

• People who take blood-thinning medicine must be cautious because of the possible interaction between cranberry juice and enzyme metabolising blood thinners.⁵    
• People with kidney-related issues should limit their consumption of cranberry juice. It might cause side effects.⁴  
• There is no sufficient information available to show the safe use of cranberry juice for breastfeeding and pregnant women. Thus, during these phases, women should consult their doctor before having it as a herb.  
• People should be cautious while giving it to children and older people due to their weak immunity and might develop reactions in the body.    
• Before consulting, one should never use cranberry juice or any other herb to self-medicate themselves.  

Also Read: Cucumber Juice: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects and More!

Interactions with Other Drugs:

The bioactive compound such as antioxidants and flavonoids of cranberry juice might interact with other drugs resulting in herb-drug interaction. This phenomenon might affect the complete metabolism of certain drugs.⁵ 

• A case report by (Suvarna et al. 2003) suggested that cranberry juice might interfere with specific enzymes (cytochrome P450) activity. It may lead to failure in the absorption of blood-thinning medicine (warfarin).⁵ 
• The constituents of cranberry juice may vary and this might cause potential herb-drug interaction.⁵ 

Thus, if you take blood-thinning drugs, you must consult an Ayurvedic physician before consuming cranberry juice. They will direct you to the better way to have cranberry juice as a herb. 

 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Reference:

1. Troter D, Stanojević Ljiljana. Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon L.) fruit juice from Serbia: UHPLC- DAD-MS/MS characterisation, antibacterial and antioxidant activities. LWT. 2021;146(111399):1–7. Available from: https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/catalog/7323941 

2. Bobis, O., Nayik, G.A., Wagay, J.A., Farooq, U., Zehra, A., Nanda, V. (2020). Cranberry. In: Nayik, G.A., Gull, A. (eds) Antioxidants in Fruits: Properties and Health Benefits. Springer, Singapore; 2020. p.479–505. Available from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-15-7285-2_25 

3. United States Department of Agriculture [Internet] Cranberry juice, unsweetened; 2019 Apr 1. [cited 2022 Jul 1]. Available from: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168117/nutrients  

4. Harkins KJ. What’s the use of cranberry juice? Age and Ageing. 2000;29(1):9–12. Available from: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10690688/ 

5. Sylvan L, Justice NP. Possible interaction between warfarin and cranberry juice. BMJ (Clini Res ed). 2003;327(7429):1454–1454. Available from: https://europepmc.org/backend/ptpmcrender.fcgi?accid=PMC300803&blobtype=pdf 

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