Fruit d’Or Measures Its Cranberry PACs

Ever since scientists figured out how to quantify the insoluble PACs (proanthocyanidins) in cranberries-not just the soluble PACs-Fruit d’Or Nutraceuticals (Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes, QC, Canada) has been eager to calculate the presence of these compounds in its cranberry material. The company just received scores from a lab analysis, and it may have one of the highest total PAC contents of today’s cranberry powders.

The theory that cranberry consumption can ward off urinary tract infections is an old one. Scientists believe that when humans (and maybe animals) consume cranberry, pathogenic bacteria is less likely to adhere to the lining of the bladder. This anti-adhesion effect likely has to do (at least in part) with particular PACs found in cranberries. And if soluble PACs were thought to be responsible, then maybe insoluble ones are too.

Using the third-party lab Complete Phytochemical Solutions LLC (Cambridge, WI), Fruit d’Or had its cranberry powder tested for total PAC content, using the BL-DMAC method for soluble PACs and a butanol-based one to detect insoluble PACs. Fruit d’Or spokesman Stephen Lukawski says that, compared to samples from to six other cranberry extracts, Fruit d’Or powder earned the highest scores in each category. A dose of 500–1000 mg of Fruit d’Or cranberry powder can potentially provide as much as 36 mg of total PACs.

“We can now recommend one cranberry capsule containing 500 mg every 12 hours against the possible treatment of UTI,” said Lukawski.

Fruit d’Or Nutraceuticals supplies cranberry powder, cranberry seed oil, and even cranberry protein.

Photo by ©iStockphoto.com/nsilcock

Robby Gardner
Associate Editor
Nutritional Outlook magazine
robby.gardner@ubm.com