title: Consumption of a cranberry juice beverage lowered the number of clinical urinary tract infection episodes in women with a recent history of urinary tract infection.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections and are often treated with antibiotics. Concerns about multidrug-resistant uropathogens have pointed to the need for safe and effective UTI-prevention strategies such as cranberry consumption.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We assessed the effects of the consumption of a cranberry beverage on episodes of clinical UTIs.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical trial, women with a history of a recent UTI were assigned to consume one 240-mL serving of cranberry beverage/d (n = 185) or a placebo (n = 188) beverage for 24 wk. The primary outcome was the clinical UTI incidence density, which was defined as the total number of clinical UTI events (including multiple events per subject when applicable) per unit of observation time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The dates of the random assignment of the first subject and the last subject's final visit were February 2013 and March 2015, respectively. The mean age was 40.9 y, and characteristics were similar in both groups. Compliance with study product consumption was 98%, and 86% of subjects completed the treatment period in both groups. There were 39 investigator-diagnosed episodes of clinical UTI in the cranberry group compared with 67 episodes in the placebo group (antibiotic use-adjusted incidence rate ratio: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.41, 0.91; P = 0.016). Clinical UTI with pyuria was also significantly reduced (incidence rate ratio: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.97; P = 0.037). One clinical UTI event was prevented for every 3.2 woman-years (95% CI: 2.0, 13.1 woman-years) of the cranberry intervention. The time to UTI with culture positivity did not differ significantly between groups (HR: 0.97; 95% CI: 0.56, 1.67; P = 0.914).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The consumption of a cranberry juice beverage lowered the number of clinical UTI episodes in women with a recent history of UTI. This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01776021.
authors.affiliation: Biofortis Clinical Research, Addison, IL; MB Clinical Research, Glen Ellyn, IL; kmaki@mbclinicalresearch.com.
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5147-5469
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Maki
authors.affiliation: Ocean Spray Cranberries, Lakeville-Middleboro, MA;
authors.forename: Kerrie L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kaspar
authors.affiliation: Ocean Spray Cranberries, Lakeville-Middleboro, MA;
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Khoo
authors.affiliation: Biofortis Clinical Research, Addison, IL;
authors.forename: Linda H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Derrig
authors.affiliation: Biofortis Clinical Research, Addison, IL;
authors.forename: Arianne L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Schild
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; and VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Kalpana
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001628:Beverages; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010919:Placebos; D011776:Pyuria; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D029799:Vaccinium macrocarpon
chemical_list: D010919:Placebos
keywords: antibiotics; bacteria; cranberry; inflammation; proanthocyanidin; urinary tract infection; women