The cranberry industry has spoken out about recent research suggesting that cranberry juice extract capsules aren’t as effective in treating urinary tract infections (UTIs) as many believe them to be.
The research was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), and industry experts have stated that, missing in the editorial, was any discussion that new cranberry products need to be developed, and new science needs to be applied, based on continued efforts to characterize the cranberry product’s composition used in the research.
They state that scientific advances, such as cranberry polyphenols fingerprinting, may lead to better correlations between the starting product and the outcomes. There should also be separation between cranberry juice powders and whole food cranberry powders, as they are two different ingredients that should not be viewed as the same.
“We need to take another look at what was learned,” comments Complete Phytochemical Solutions CEO Christian Krueger, a third-party consulting and testing botanical ingredient company.
“The World Health Organization and others have identified antibiotic resistance as a global issue. In some countries, individuals with chronic UTIs are being prescribed the highest level of antibiotics. In the JAMA study, researchers acknowledged the need to identify and evaluate new, innovative alternatives to antibiotics to treat UTIs.”
“There’s not going to be a shortage of bugs that make us sick, and we know time is limited on the effectiveness of antibiotics. The bigger issue is what does the dietary supplement industry, and particularly the natural cranberry supplement industry, now have that they can bring to the table?”
“If you have a novel and natural approach for urinary tract health that displaces the need for antibiotics, you’ve got a good platform out there.”
Krueger says that the good news is that research and testing methods are moving forward. He has introduced breakthrough test methods such as butanol, now adopted by the Cranberry Institute, for measuring cranberry’s soluble and insoluble proanthocyanidins PACs and has also developed new reference standards such as C-PAC which is more accurate than DMAC A2 standard currently being used.
Fruit d’Or, a well-established player in the cranberry industry, also claim to be providing the industry with a new mindset.
“Much is being done to evaluate how the complete, whole cranberry product can aid in addressing the issues associated with microbes, and move us away from the use of antibiotics,” said Krueger.
“Fruit d’Or is the new leader in the nutraceutical industry and a champion of efforts to adopt the newest and most relevant analytical methods.”
Stephen Lukawski, director of Sales and Business Development for Fruit d’Or, says that, “The JAMA report cannot be allowed to put a blanket over the entire cranberry industry.”
“At Fruit d’Or, we are dealing with natural, whole food cranberry powder that contains both soluble and insoluble PACs.”
“The cranberry tested in the JAMA report only contained soluble PACs from juice powder. Everyone needs to know that not all cranberry ingredients are the same or of the same quality.”
Lukawski adds that, “Knowing the starting composition of the cranberry product used in the research gives us better correlations in the outcomes.”
He cautions researchers to stop using outdated testing methods and materials.
“What sets Fruit d’Or apart is its unique whole cranberry product, and how it can be used as a test material to evaluate new, innovative alternatives to antibiotic treatments.” He continues, “Researchers need strong, standardized reference material.”
“In the past, we’ve seen cranberry studies by other cranberry suppliers that today can not be repeated or duplicated. If you don’t standardize the starting raw material lot to lot, you can’t link biomarkers to outcomes of the studies.”
“The good news is that we can now validate the starting material before conducting new research and science.”
“By using the latest tools and reference standards, we can build a consensus. We can build a body of science on cranberry’s health benefits. If more people did this, we’d have better outcome correlations.”
“It is Fruit d’Or’s opinion that the identification of soluble and insoluble PACs found in the whole food cranberry powder needs to be researched and studied.”
“Evidence is showing that you need a standardized combination of both soluble and insoluble PACs to take cranberry beyond UTIs with other health benefits.”
Fruit d’Or is educating the marketplace on these tools. “There’s a gauntlet that’s been laid down to the rest of the industry. Understand your ingredients. Hold yourselves responsible when studies are conducted for ensuring that total PAC information and cranberry composition are communicated alongside your results.”
