Insoluble Cranberry PACs Show Urinary Health Potential

When Fruit d’Or Nutraceuticals (Notre Dame de Lourdes, QC, Canada) discovered insoluble proanthocyanidins (PACs) in cranberry, the company knew it would have to perform research to determine if these compounds supported health like soluble PACs, the version cranberry health markets are already familiar with. Now, only a month after announcing its Cran Naturelle insoluble PAC, Fruit d’Or claims to have documented anti-adhesion activity in the urine of subjects who consumed the ingredient.

During an independent trial, 20 men and women consumed two capsules of insoluble cranberry PAC, accounting for 1000 mg of the ingredient in total. All subjects were recruited for their unique inability to produce anti-adhesion compounds in their urine without the help of phenolic foods, which can encourage presence of such compounds. Anti-adhesion is necessary to prevent E. coli from attaching to the bladder-a situation which can result in urinary tract infections.

While on a special diet of zero polyphenols, subjects consumed the ingredient and waited 24 hours for urinary analysis. After consuming Cran Naturelle, 70% of subjects suddenly exhibited anti-adhesion activity in their urine. It is a sign that these insoluble cranberry PACs may benefit urinary health in a similar way to the soluble cranberry PACs that have been tested again and again throughout the years.

Fruit d’Or is now celebrating its results. The company’s next goal is to learn how these insoluble PACs perform on infectious bacteria in the gut. “If we can control this invasion in the intestines,” says company R&D directory Francois Cormier, PhD, “we may be able to provide a much better defense against UTIs.