Cranberry crusader – just good news for your water works?
Nutrition News — By Emma Stirling on July 31, 2011 at 9:18 amWe have been busy cooking up some new, exciting developments and wanted to give you the inside scoop. We have a brand new Sub of the Month program launching 1st August and our first Scoop Supporter - Ocean Spray on board. So it’s really important to us that you are across these new initiatives. We truly value and adapt to your feedback. Plus we wanted to give you the scoop on those gorgeous ruby berries for good health.
About Sub of the Month
We are passionate about supporting dietitians and nutritionists to be strong communicators. Ultimately this helps our cause to see credible nutrition information in the media and online. Once a month a dietitian will join us as the guest sub editor. Usually this is a final year nutrition or dietetics student, new graduate or someone with experience, but not in the digital world. The sub of the month gets their hands dirty in the newsroom, helps manage our facebook and Twitter chat and learns the ropes of blogging. In August we welcome Chef and Nutritionist – Mel Haynes. Mel will be focusing on recipe makeover and culinary tips – so look out for her post and comments, plus daily tips on our Scoop Nutrition facebook page.
About Scoop Supporters
We value transparency in blogging and will be hand picking our supporters. These are companies that think, eat and drink just like us. They enable Scoop to grow and continue to bring you more. Proceeds from our supporters are used exclusively for site upgrades and for honorariums provided in our mentoring program – Sub of the month.
A lot of health for one little berry
There are so many reasons we are happy to have Ocean Spray on board. While we support local produce, cranberries hail from North America, so juice or fruit products are the perfect way to get our fill in Australia. Perhaps best known as a key ingredient in a Cosmopolitan Cocktail during Sex and the City hey days, the unique, tart flavour of cranberries gives an added dimension to sweet and savoury recipes. Make sure you grab your free copy of the recipe book by Chef Pete Evans by clicking through the Ocean Spray ad on our sidebar or here. The bircher muesli is the bomb. But it’s the investment in cranberry health research that catches our eye:
Water works and more
Cranberries naturally contain phytochemicals called proanthocyanidins (PACS) which may prevent bacteria from attaching to the cell lining of the bladder. It is this anti-adhesion effect that is thought to be unique to cranberries. While other fruits such as grapes and green tea contain these PACs, the molecular structure of the cranberry means it is one of the few fruits that offers this additional, anti-adhesion benefit.
Research has shown that the cranberry PACs are absorbed by the body where they may function as anti-adhesion agents and/or antioxidants. Cranberries may help prevent urinary tract infections by preventing E. coli from adhering to the cells that line the urinary tract. This same effect may help prevent other types of infections involving host-tissue bacteria such as H. pylori, a major cause of gastric ulcers.
UTIs are one of the most common reasons for visiting a doctor about an infection, with antibiotic therapy the mainstay of treatment. About 1 in 2 women and 1 in 20 men will get a UTI in their lifetime. Studies have shown 250ml of cranberry juice drink a day (with minimum 25% cranberry juice content) may be enough to prevent UTIs, but an optimum dose and duration is not yet known. As always, consult with your health professional.
A recent survey by Kidney Health Australia and The Cranberry Institute reveals Australian women are unaware of basic health recommendations after sex in order to prevent UTI’s. You can read the full recommendations here: UTI prevention after sex
The unique “anti-adhesion” properties that prevent bacteria from forming in the urinary tract may prevent key bacteria from forming in other parts of the body too, even the mouth. A study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association reported that unique cranberry juice components, the same flavanoids mentioned above, have the ability to provide this dental protection. Plus cranberry antioxidants have been studied for their protective role in other lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease and cancer. While we are not suggesting you use cranberry juice as a mouth wash, it certainly is another indicator of the cranberry as a good health crusader.
Ocean Spray giveaway
We have a generous giveaway pack for one lucky Aussie reader too containing: 1 x 1.5L bottles each of Ocean Spray Cranberry Classic, Ocean Spray Cranberry Light, Ocean Spray Cranberry Pomegranate, Ocean Spray Cranberry Blackcurrant, Ocean Spray Raspberry Cranberry, Ocean Spray Ruby Red Grapefruit, 1 x packet of Craisins dried cranberries, 1 x jar of Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, 1 x jar of Jellied Cranberry Sauce, 1 x Ocean Spray Cooler Bag, 1 x Pete Evans recipe notebook.
So drop us a comment below for your chance to be picked as the random winner. Competition open until Monday 8th August 5pm EST. We’d really love to hear what you think about our Sub of the Month and Scoop Supporter program? Be honest, your feedback helps shape our future and we value every, single comment. Or perhaps you have a cranberry tip or a Cosmopolitan night-out story? If you’d like to be considered as a Sub of the Month or a Scoop Supporter, we’d love to hear from you too.
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12 Comments
Emma… love the commitment to transparency about sponsors and your sub of the month program. Great post!
I usually try to avoid drinking fruit juice, even 100% because it’s so much sugar without the fibre. Doesn’t cranberry juice have a lot of sugar added to it to balance the natural tartness of cranberries?
Thanks Regan. Yes Nerida, I agree that you need to watch liquid kilojoules and go for water as the main drink, especially if you’re watching your weight. And you can’t beat fresh fruit for filling fibre and satiety. But I do think a small daily juice can fit in a balanced diet. Personally I love to spritz my soda water with a dash of juice in the hot months or make ice cubes with juice and fresh mint leaves (not to mention the odd cocktail here and there). You will find the nutrition panels of Ocean Spray products here: http://www.oceanspray.com.au/products-drinks.asp
Hi! I’m thrilled to be a part of the new sub-editor of the month. Looking forward to sharing some healthy kitchen tips and tricks with everyone and hearing all your suggestions! Some of my posts are going up on the Facebook page so head over and take a look. Happy Cooking! http://www.facebook.com/TheScoopOnNutrition
Congratulations for initiating your Sub of the Month. It’s great to see support for newer industry members and the promotion of shared information.
My husbands a fan of cranberry juice and I love your idea of adding it to a bit of spritz. My 4 year old is very concerned that the people in the Ocean Spray TV commercial (standing in the lake of cranberries) have lost their legs!
We’ve had a great comment from Angela on our contact page and will copy it here:
I love to use dried fruit, nuts & seeds in my cooking in order to boost the nutritional value of my family’s meals and especially after recently going (mostly) vegetarian (and because they taste good and add texture and interest). My latest discovery has been dried cranberries to add a tart sweetness to spinach salad (along with sunflower kernels & avocado) and my favourite combination, roast pumpkin, pepitas, dried cranberries and chilli. In a risotto this is heavenly. I will always keep cranberries in my pantry now along with my dried apricots and wide variety of nuts and seeds. Thanks for the informative site! Angela
Such a huge fan of your site. I am so excited to see the new sub of the month idea- Emma is like a mum to many new dietitians and it is so generous of her to give new up and coming dietitians a turn in the hot seat. Also thrilled to see the first sponsor on board and the policy of self selection is so great to see- ethics in blogging is so valuable. On another note I love using dried cranberries to make an antioxidant, not to mention delicious, sauce to go with seared Kangaroo steaks-try it some time!
I love Ocean Spray they have the best Cranberry juice on the market.
what a generous pack they have for your giveaway!
OceanSpray cranberry juice is loaded with added sugar! While I’m all for natural sugars from fruits etc, I’m definitely surprised that you are supporting/allowing support from a company that adds refined cane sugar to their juices–in addition to spraying their cranberries with pesticides. Not to mention, mentioning them as a good source of nutrition steers people away from at-home juicing of raw, live, enzymatic juices. Of course not everyone will make time for that, but there are plenty of organic, no-added sugar cranberry juices on the market (found at your local health food store!)
Also, Urinary tract infections have to do with a lot more than just drinking cranberry juice; if you are someone who gets multiple UTIs, you may be eating to much meat, dairy, sugar, or refined grains/foods.
Thanks for the additional comments, especially the foodie tips…making me hungry for my dinner. Thanks for your openess too Mak. I’m all for healthy debate (pardon the pun) on nutrition science. But I think you raise points that we will need to agree to disagree. I have no problem with cane sugar, itself, just the total amount most people tend to eat. I eat it, bake with it and have even been known to feed it to my kids on porridge! I shop organic where I can but am comfortable buying conventional produce and products. I love homemade juices too but I also love the convenience of ambient, shelf stable juices that are ready to drink. And we have already covered off that UTI’s are complex, require health professional advice and that cranberry juice is not a magic bullet. Let’s face it, no food alone is the cure all. I’m sure you’ll agree that it’s a “super” diet that makes the difference.
Our giveaway competition has just closed and we’ve used random number generator to pick a winner…..I can’t believe MY luck as the first number selected was lucky number 8, Melanie W who is a fan of Ocean Spray. Mel I’ll be in touch by email to get your deets. We hope you enjoy and thanks for supporting our new Sub of the Month program…there are some amazing up and coming dietitians that we’d love to help nuture.
Hi Emma
Thank you so much i recieved my ocean spray pack last week i love the cookbook and the cooler bag is fantastic
it really made my day and to my suprise the kids are really loving the cranberry juices.
Have a great day, Thanks again, Melaine.
hi Emma.
Was great to hear you speak about nutrtion and this blog tonight at the Deakin career night.
Loving the website!
Can’t wait to check this and the facebook page out more tomorrow.
You truly are an inspiration.
Jenna