Yes, cranberry juice really does have special powers

Last night, I stumbled on a new-ish study that got my interest—researchers publishing in the journal Molecular Nutrition and Food Research not only confirmed that cranberry juice is incredibly effective in treating urinary tract infections, they also figured out why it works: Cranberries contain chemicals that make E. coli bacteria (the source of 90% of UTIs) un-attach from our urinary tract cells and flush out of our systems. The more cranberry juice we drink, apparently, the better this old-school household remedy works. It was fun to see that something so simple could pack such a significant punch. The scientists wrote that this finding has huge implications for the development of new kinds of antibiotics.

I told my dad—a urologist who’s published a study or two of his own. And here’s what he said: Why don’t they just tell people to drink more cranberry juice?

Good point! My dad and just about every other urologist I’ve ever talked to has prescribed cranberry juice for decades because, well, it works. It’s worked so well, in fact, that Native Americans have been using it for this, as well as a kidney and bladder cleanser for hundreds of years.

I wanted to post all this because it reminded me of something I don’t always stop to think about: So many of the chemicals that we now use in drugs were, at one point, discoveries made in the organic world. (Penicillin, for example.)

I’m a big proponent of Western medicine because it’s the result of research—and refining—on compounds that have shown tremendous promise. It’s the best of what we’ve got.

But there’s more out there. And we’re just starting to sift through all of it. Food’s a non-toxic way to experiment in this department. We know that eating well has some advantages, namely fewer calories, fat, and additives. We suspect there are many others. The hitch is that we don’t know, always, exactly what all those things are. One week a certain vitamin could save your life, the next it’s under scrutiny. Those fits and starts can be confusing to say the least. Yet the sum positive of the research—plus how we feel—tells us there’s something going on when we eat, say, a serving of kale or fresh strawberries. And sometimes, as with this cranberry information, science does get to the specifics of what and why. When that happens, it can be a really inspiring reminder of how connected all these approaches really are…