Health Benefits of Cranberries, Risks & Tips

Cranberries are a native North American plant. Although they still grow wild in boggy areas, most are cultivated in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, and New Jersey. Once served mostly as a condiment at Thanksgiving and Christmas, cranberries are now consumed throughout the year as juice, a dried snack fruit, and an ingredient in muffins and other baked goods.

Health Benefits

May prevent and treat urinary tract infections.
Studies show that cranberries contain a natural antibiotic substance that makes the bladder walls inhospitable to the organisms responsible for urinary tract infections. This prevents the bacteria from forming colonies; instead, they are washed out of the body in the urine.

May help prevent heart disease.
Cranberries are rich sources of anthocyanins, flavonols, and proanthocyanidins, plant chemicals that prevent LDL cholesterol from oxidizing, a process that makes it more likely to stick to artery walls. These chemicals also keep red blood cells from getting too sticky. An added bonus: They initiate a complex chemical reaction that helps blood vessels relax. Plus they decrease LDL cholesterol levels. Additionally, University of Scranton researchers reported that three glasses of cranberry juice a day can raise HDL levels up to 10%.

May help prevent cancer.
Not only do cranberries contain fiber and vitamin C, both of which help prevent cancer, but they also have bioflavonoids, plant pigments that help counter the damage of free radicals. Studies have singled out anthocyanin as the bioflavonoid that has an anticancer effect.

Health Risks

Blood sugar.
Most commercial cranberry juice contains large amounts of sugar or other sweeteners. To avoid spikes in blood sugar that can contribute to onset of diabetes, use a juicer to make your own cranberry juice or buy pure 100% cranberry juice. To reduce the amount of sugar needed, dilute 1 cup of concentrated juice with 2 to 3 cups of apple juice and then sweeten to taste.

Eating Tips
• Simmer cranberries, orange marmalade, and grated ginger to make chutney.
• Coat ½ cup fresh cranberries with flour and fold into pound cake batter.
• Toss dried cranberries into a spinach salad.

WARNING! FOOD-DRUG INTERACTION
Do not drink cranberry juice if you are on the medication warfarin. The interaction between the juice and the drug may lead to bleeding.

Buying Tips
• When buying fresh cranberries, look for firm, bright red fruit.
 • Berries that are at their peak will bounce when dropped; those that don’t are likely to be soft and past their prime.
• When buying dried cranberries, look for unsweetened ones, which have fewer calories and more fiber per serving.

Storing Tips
• Because cranberries are high in acidity, they will last a long time. Store them in their original plastic packaging or tightly wrapped in the refrigerator.
 • Refrigerated cranberries can be kept up to 1 month; frozen cranberries, a year.