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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements for Seniors
Cranberry Juice Compounds Show Promise as
Alternatives to Antibiotics
Tannins in cranberries are potentially potent
antibacterial agents
 September
11, 2006 A new study says cranberry juice may provide an alternative
to antibiotics, particularly for combating E. coli bacteria that have
become resistant to conventional treatment. For years research has
pointed to the beneficial health aspects of cranberry juice, but most
have focused on its ability to prevent urinary tract infections, which
affect eight million people annually, with senior citizens making up a
large percentage of these victims.
This research provides more insight
by determining that the compounds in cranberry juice have the ability to
change E. coli bacteria, a class of microorganisms responsible for a
host of human illnesses (everything from kidney infections to
gastroenteritis to tooth decay), in ways that render them unable to
initiate an infection.
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Nutrition, Vitamins & Supplements |
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This research, for the first time, begins to paint
a detailed picture of the biochemical mechanisms that may underlie a
number of beneficial health effects of cranberry juice that have been
reported in other studies over the years. These findings by scientists
at Worcester Polytechnic Institute were presented on Sunday, Sept. 10,
at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.
Many previous studies have focused on the ability
of cranberry juice to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which
affect mostly the elderly, women and infants--resulting in $1.6 billion
in annual health care costs.
Until now, scientists have not understood exactly
how cranberry juice prevents UTIs and other bacterial infections, though
they have suspected that compounds in the juice somehow prevent bacteria
from adhering to the lining of the urinary tract. The new findings
reveal how the compounds interfere with adhesion at the molecular level.
The new results will be incorporated in two
presentations during a session that runs from 8:30 to 11:40 a.m. in the
Windsor Room of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel.
The research, by Terri Camesano, associate
professor of chemical engineering at WPI, and graduate students Yatao
Liu and Paola Pinzon-Arango, and funded, in part, by the National
Science Foundation, shows that a group of tannins (called
proanthocyanidins) found primarily in cranberries affect E. coli in
three devastating ways, all of which prevent the bacteria from adhering
to cells in the body, a necessary first step in all infections:
● They change the shape of the bacteria from rods
to spheres.
● They alter their cell membranes.
● They make it difficult for bacteria to make
contact with cells, or from latching on to them should they get close
enough.
For most of these effects, the impact on bacteria
was stronger the higher the concentration of either cranberry juice or
the tannins, suggesting that whole cranberry products and juice that has
not been highly diluted may have the greatest health effects.
The new results build on previously published work,
in which Camesano and her team showed that cranberry juice causes tiny
tendrils (known as fimbriae) on the surface of the type of E. coli
bacteria responsible for the most serious types of UTIs to become
compressed. Since the fimbriae make it possible for the bacteria to bind
tightly to the lining of the urinary tract, the change in shape greatly
reduces the ability of the bacteria to stay put long enough to initiate
an infection.
More recently, Camesano and Liu have shown that
chemical changes caused by cranberry juice also create an energy barrier
that keeps the bacteria from getting close to the urinary tract lining
in the first place.
New work by Camesano and Pinzon-Arango shows that
cranberry juice can transform E. coli bacteria in even more radical
ways. The researchers grew E. coli over extended periods in solutions
containing various concentrations of either cranberry juice or tannins.
Over time, the normally rod-shaped bacteria became spherical--a
transformation that has never before been observed in E. coli.
Remarkably, the E. coli bacteria, all of which fall
into a class called gram-negative bacteria, began behaving like
gram-positive bacteria--another never-before-seen phenomenon. Since
gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria differ primarily in the
structure of their cell membranes, the results suggest that the tannins
in cranberry juice can alter the membranes of E. coli.
A final, more preliminary result that will be
presented at the ACS meeting suggests that E. coli bacteria exposed to
cranberry juice appear to lose the ability to secrete indole, a molecule
involved in a form of bacterial communication called quorum sensing. E.
coli use quorum sensing to determine when there are enough bacteria
present at a certain location to initiate a successful infection.
"We are beginning to get a picture of cranberry
juice and, in particular, the tannins found in cranberries as,
potentially potent antibacterial agents," Camesano says. "These results
are surprising and intriguing, particularly given the increasing concern
about the growing resistance of certain disease-causing bacteria to
antibiotics."
Notes:
About Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI was one
of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. WPI's 18
academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate
degree programs in science, engineering, technology, management, the
social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to the BA, BS, MS,
ME, MBA and PhD. WPI's world-class faculty work with students in a
number of cutting-edge research areas, leading to breakthroughs and
innovations in such fields as biotechnology, fuel cells, nanotechnology,
and information security. Students also have the opportunity to make a
difference to communities and organizations around the world through the
university's innovative Global Perspective Program. There are more than
20 WPI project centers throughout North America and Central America,
Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe.
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