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When you hear the word “cranberry,” your mind might make a few connections. Thanksgiving dinner? Cosmopolitan drink? A way to ward away a UTI? Well, you will now need to squeeze one more cranberry association into your brain, because a new study has proven that drinking two glasses of cranberry juice a day can significantly improve heart health.
The Study
This cranberry study took place in Maryland, where 56 participants were randomly assigned to drink either low-calorie cranberry juice or a placebo with the same taste. The participants drank the juice twice a day for eight weeks and then underwent evaluation for risk factors relating to heart disease, diabetes, and stroke.
The cranberry juice used was a standard brand, Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc, found in any grocery store. It contained 27 percent juice and was sweetened with sucralose. The placebo, meanwhile, tasted and looked the same using artificial flavors and colors.
At the end of eight weeks, the participants who drank Ocean Spray cranberry juice twice a day all had much lower cardiovascular risk indicators than the group of volunteers who drank the placebo.
Why Cranberry?
The results are impressive, but what makes cranberries so powerful? Cranberries provide unique bioactive compounds to the body, and those bioactive compounds reduce inflammation, stop certain types of infections, and strengthen the heart. In particular, cranberry juice is rich in phytonutrients like proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids. Though those hard-to-pronounce names might not look like much to the naked eye, they are actually powerful nutrients with the ability to dramatically improve the body’s health.
The more concentrated the cranberry juice, the more powerful the results. The polyphenols found in cranberry juice can improve blood flow, reduce hardening of the arteries, and even lower blood pressure in just 24 hours! This means that drinking two cups of cranberry juice a day can lower the risk of atherosclerosis, the heart disease that occurs when the arteries become too clogged with plaque.
Though research is still underway to pin down the exact impact of cranberry juice on the heart, this study and multiple others all prove that cranberry juice has a very positive impact on heart health. It also doesn’t hurt that cranberry juice simultaneously improves kidney function, supports waste filtration, and fights urinary tract infections! Next time you consider grabbing a soda or coffee, opt for cranberry juice instead and see what it can do for your body.