Cranberry juice constituents inhibit influenza virus adhesion and infectivity.
Cranberry juice contains high molecular weight materials (NDM) that inhibit bacterial adhesion to host cells as well as the co-aggregation of many oral bacteria. Hemagglutination (HA) of red blood cells (RBC) caused by representatives of both influenza virus A subtypes (H1N1)and H3N2)
Active compounds endowed with a capacity to modulate the host inflammatory response are now receiving considerable attention, since they may be potential new therapeutic agents for the treatment of periodontal diseases (Paquette and Williams, 2000).
From http://jdr.iadrjournals.org/...
The cranberry is a native North American fruit with various beneficial properties for human health, such as the inhibition of human cancer cell line proliferation (Ferguson et al., 2004; Seeram et al., 2004) and the prevention of adherence of urinary tract infectious agents (Raz et al., 2004).
Cranberry
Proper name(s): Vaccinium macrocarpon Aiton (Ericaceae) (USDA 2007)
Common name(s): Cranberry, American cranberry, Large cranberry (McGuffin et al. 2000; Wiersema and Léon 1999)
Traditionally used in Herbal Medicine to help prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (Bruyère 2006; Foster and Tyler 1999; Siciliano 1996).
Helps to prevent recurrent urinary tract infections (Di Martino et al. 2006; Stothers 2002; Walker et al. 1997; Avorn et al. 1994; Gibson et al. 1991; Sobota 1984).
Dose(s):
Liquid juice concentrate: equivalent to 120-750 ml per day (preparation must contain at least 30% fruit juice) (Stothers 2002; Avorn et al. 1994; Gibson et al. 1991)
Dried juice preparation: 400-1200 mg per day (Mills and Bone 2005; Upton 2002; Walker et al. 1997; Yarnell 1997)
Duration of use: Use for a minimum of 4 weeks to see beneficial effects (Jepson et al. 2004; Blumenthal et al. 2003; Walker et al. 1997; Avorn et al. 1994; Gibson et al. 1991).
Risk information: Statement(s) to the effect of:
Caution(s) and warning(s):
Consult a health care practitioner prior to use if you have a history of kidney stones (Gettman et al. 2005; Terris et al. 2001).
Consult a health care practitioner prior to use if you are taking blood thinners (Aston et al. 2006; Brinker 2007; Rindone and Murphy 2005; Grant 2004).
Consult a health care practitioner if symptoms persist or worsen.
Contraindication(s): No statement required.
Known adverse reaction(s): No statement required.
We know that in 50% cases of swine flu H1N1 infections there are intestinal problems.
All thanks to Mingus Cranberry Juice Inactivates Intestinal Viruses
ATLANTA – June 6, 2005 -- Cranberry juice, long considered a home remedy for urinary tract infections, may also be effective against a number of gastrointestinal viruses according to researchers from St. Francis College in Brooklyn, New York. They report their findings today at the 105th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
“The addition of commercially available cranberry juice cocktail to intestinal viruses resulted in viral reductions below detectible infectivity levels,” says Patrice Cohen, a researcher on the study.
Intestinal virus infections account for significant illness and billions of dollars in medical expenses each year in the United States and throughout the world. On the international level, especially in developing nations, hundreds of thousands of infant deaths occur annually due to intestinal virus infections.
“Within the last five years, an increasingly large number of studies have suggested cranberry juice to be an effective commercial product for the reduction of urinary tract infections in women,” says Cohen. a finding that led the research team to test the effectiveness of cranberry juice as a possible antiviral agent.
The researchers used intestinal monkey rotavirus SA-11 (SA-11) and a pool of goat intestinal reoviruses, as model intestinal virus systems.
Treatment of SA-11 with cranberry juice prevented the virus from attaching to red blood cells or infecting its host cells. Visualization of SA-11 host cell cultures by high magnification (electron) microscopy showed an absence of viral particles in the cranberry juice treated host cells.
“Our studies suggest a cranberry juice-induced antiviral effect upon selected intestinal animal viral disease-producing agents. Additional studies in the form of human trials need to be performed to determine any beneficial effects of cranberry juice consumption as a means to help reduce the incidence of viral intestinal disease,” says Cohen.
Cranberry and Viruses
"The cranberry juice may have a blocking effect on the cell surface which is then preventing the virus from infecting this host cell," says one of the study's authors, biologist Steven M. Lipson, of St. Francis College.
Research on the benefits of cranberry juice in women with urinary tract infections, prompted the St. Francis team to see whether cranberry juice might also effect viruses. With partial funding from the Cranberry Institute, Lipson's team focused on animal strains of reovirus and rotavirus, common intestinal viruses that in microscopic images appear as round, dot-covered wheels resembling dandelion puffs.
"There is a major problem among children concerning intestinal virus infections," says Lipson. "Our interest was to look at something which might be applicable to address this issue."
As reported in Discover magazine, the researchers mixed intestinal animal viruses with cranberry juice at varying concentrations, then separately made a batch of virus and saline solution. "These two systems [were] added to cells growing in culture, as well as red blood cells to identify the effect of these viruses on the clumping of red blood cells," says Lipson, explaining that when cells clump together in blood, called haemagglutination, it indicates viral infection. "These viruses which were treated with cranberry juice... lost their ability to clump red blood cells, showing that the infectivity of these viruses are inhibited," possibly because of changes on the cell surface in the presence of cranberry juice.
Preparing cranberry juice mixture
But it's still unclear how the cranberry juice might work to prevent the viruses from entering cells. "The effect may not be necessarily on the virus itself but it may be on the cells which are no longer receptive to the virus," says Lipson.
All viruses are like homeowners. They need to know where to go to enter a cell but they also need a key that helps them bind to and open a receptor site on the cell. "The receptor is like a lock and the virus has a key," explains St. Francis College biologist Allen Burdowski, who was also an author on the study. "And all of a sudden the virus opens up, it binds to the lock… the door opens and the virus enters." Something in cranberry juice may be disrupting this process. Says Burdowski, "What cranberry juice does is really prevents the virus from inserting the key to open up the lock. And if it can't insert the key to open up the lock the virus can't enter into the cell."
But David Sanders, a viral researcher at Purdue University says that almost any substance can have an effect on cells and viruses in the kind of study Burdowski and Lipson did. "You can do all sorts of things to damage viruses and cells," Sanders says. "It doesn't necessarily mean there's a biological effect." To be convinced that cranberry juice produces impacts viruses Sanders says he would need to see "an animal study that shows researchers can reduce the length [of time from symptom to recovery] or the number of enteric viruses [cases]" when animals are given cranberry juice, compared to when they're not. Otherwise, he says, the cranberry juice-viral connection, "just doesn't have any relationship to human health."
Snowy Owl