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Sammanfattning

Urinary tract infections, which are often recurrent, can be painful and cause much suffering. The low-dose antibiotics used today to prevent them contribute, however to the development of resistance to the antibiotics, to the need of more extended care and to an increase in health care costs. The present paper is a review of literature on the effects of cranberry in preventing urinary tract infections. The literature reviewed provides support for cranberry’s preventive effects, also in the case of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The effects were found to be dose-dependent and to be strongest four to six hours after consumption. The physiological effects can be explained on the basis of efficacy mechanisms which have an inhibitory effect on the ability of uropathogenic bacteria to attach to the uroepithelial cells, preventing infection from occurring. Cranberry use can be recommended primarily for women with recurrent urinary tract infections. Research on effects of cranberry use in other subpopulations appears called for.

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