Cranberry to the Rescue?
Ah! the ever popular cranberry – available as a sauce which is popular world-wide but especially for our American and Canadian friends, as it is an important part of their Thanksgiving menu. Cranberries are one of the few fruits that are native to North America and they are available in the shops from October to December. The other popular method of cranberry consumption is in juice form and it is actually this form that has bought the little cranberry to my attention. Recently in the U.K. there has been an advert for cranberry juice that has appeared more than a few times on my television screen. So I thought today we could take a look at our cranberry friend in its original form.
Nutrients are based on 100 grams
- Calories: 47.92 kcal
- Protein: 0 grams
- Carbohydrates: 12.5 grams
- Fibre: 4.17 grams
- Fat: 0 grams
- Calcium: 6.25 milligrams
- Phosphorus: 8.33 milligrams
- Potassium: 70.83 milligrams
- Zinc: 0.21 milligrams
- Iron: 0.21 milligrams
- Magnesium: 4.17 milligrams
- Vitamin A: 4.17 micrograms
- Vitamin B1: 0.020 milligrams
- Vitamin B2: 0.020 milligrams
- Vitamin B3: 0 milligrams
- Vitamin B6: 0.062 milligrams
- Vitamin C: 12.5 milligrams
- Vitamin E: 0.104 micrograms
- Folate (folic acid): 2.08 micrograms
(The cranberry doesn’t seem to back up it’s Super Fruit reputation – Beeble)
What do these figures mean?
Looking at the figures it shows that for the 100 grams quantity you will get a very respectable 19% return of vitamin C but we should expect a fairly good vitamin C content in most fruits and 100 grams is quite a lot of cranberries. The remainder of the figures I am going to skip because they are really low percentages and not worth writing about.
Why eat Cranberries?
Cranberries are well known in aiding in our respiratory system (the lungs – Beeble) as well as being a killer of bacteria within our kidneys, bladder and urinary tract and it does this through the presence of polyphenol antioxidants and phytochemicals. They act like cleaning agents through the parts of the body that no other cleaners can get to and so now we can see where the title of ‘Super Fruit’ may have come from.
Calm Down
Whilst the cranberry does contain a lot of bacteria fighting natural chemicals there are some doubts on it’s long term benefits for women and for people who are already suffering from bacterial problems in their urinary tract. In fact it is doubtful whether some of the Cranberry’s natural chemicals ( anthocyanidin flavonoid, peonidin, cyanidin and petunidin) can actually be effectively absorbed by the human body can actually absorb them affectively even though they have fantastic cancer fighting abilities. The cranberry is sounding more like a potential sidekick than a Super Fruit, a Robin to the Kiwi’s Batman!
Be careful
If you are taking Warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven, Marevan, and Waran – Beeble), which is a drug used in the easing of thrombosis and preventing future problems, then do not consume cranberries in any form, as it has been reported that the combination can cause adverse effects including severe bruising (of the consumer, not the fruit – Beeble).
Summary
Whilst I may be a little dubious of its super fruit qualities, there is no doubt that it is a good fruit to take to aid the cleaning of our water pipes and it is also a good contributor to our Vitamin C intake. The secret is not to throw all your hopes on to one food as it is nearly always a combination of foods that will gain you the most benefit. It should also be noted that the cranberry is most affective in its natural state rather than juice or sauce.
September 26th, 2009 at 8:05 am
How about other types of berries? Do they have the same benefits as the cranberry? This blog is informative by the way.