Drinking cranberry juice may help protect the body against staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections, according to a study presented at this years American Chemical Society national meeting. This is because compounds found in the fruit juice prevent the development of the strain that allows the infection to grow and spread.
Cranberry juice can be used to combat E. coli and urinary tract infections, and to see if it would stave off a staph infection, researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) had female students drink the juice or a placebo. The team then took urinary samples from each participant, and exposed the samples of E. coli and S. aureus bacteria.
The results showed that bacteria was unable to produce an infection in urine samples containing cranberry juice. In fact, the team found that the cranberry juice better protected against the S. aureus infection as compared to E. coli.
“Most of our work with cranberry juice has been with E. coli and urinary tract infections, but we included S. aureus in this study because it is a very serious health threat,” said Terri Camesano, lead author of the study. She concluded that “this is an important new area to explore, and we are now thinking about how best to proceed.”
In 2005, approximately 478,000 Americans were hospitalized for S. aureus infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.