Taking the sour with the sweet

This is probably more than you want to know about me but I recently discovered that urinary tract infections are incredibly painful.

Which is why I have a new interest in cranberry juice and its much lauded ability to help you avoid this kind of thing.

Apparently the cranberry juice thing isn’t a myth. But (and this is annoying) it isn’t necessarily helpful for curing infections; it is pretty much only helpful in preventing them.

Personally, I like cranberry juice just fine but it’s not something I want to spend the rest of my life drinking — if for no other reason than that it’s hard to find actual cranberry juice, as opposed to its high fructose-enriched cousin, the cranberry juice cocktail.

If I’m going to drink a cranberry juice cocktail, it is more likely to have vodka in it than corn syrup. But I digress.

Credit for the cranberry’s ability to protect your urinary tract goes to flavonoids known as proanthocyanidins. I won’t pretend to be able to tell you what a flavonoid is (and frankly, I know you don’t really care).

Suffice it to say that the flavonoids help form a protective biofilm that keeps bacteria from latching on to that part of your body and creating an infection. And for some reason, proanthocyanidins on their own are not as effective as they are when supported by all the other ingredients, nutrients, minerals etc. found in cranberry juice.

Cranberry juice and cranberries generally are good for things other than this fairly rare infection. Like all small fruits that are richly colored, they have antioxidants that fight cancer. For some reason, cranberries help prevent dental plaque from forming, which can protect you from developing cavities (keep in mind that this advantage is probably diminished if you are drinking a sugar-enriched juice cocktail).

Studies are being done by the National Institutes of Health to see if cranberries help slow the aging process.

And there is some evidence that cranberries can cleanse the liver — although there is also evidence that people who take medications that affect the liver (notably blood-thinners and aspirin) should be moderate in their cranberry intake.

And of course anyone with concerns about their liver will not seriously want to spike their juice with vodka. There are many other ways to get more cranberry into your diet, though. For example, cranberry sauce is lovely, and doesn’t need to be served only at Thanksgiving. My favorite recipe comes from the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries. Yes, it does have a lot of sugar. You can reduce the processed white sugar, though, and add more honey instead.

Cranberry sauce
Adapted from Ocean Spray

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup honey

1 cup water

12 ounces cranberries

1 tablespoon orange zest

1/4 cup chopped orange

Combine the sugar and water in a medium saucepan (preferably ceramic, so it doesn’t get an acid taste from its sourness reacting with metal). Bring it to a boil; add the cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the honey and orange zest and chopped orange.

Cover and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate until serving time. Makes 2 1/2 cups.

 

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