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Is cranberry juice good for prostate health?

prostatecancerinfolink.net - So drinking cranberry juice can lower your PSA level, but what does that ...

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As we have noted numerous times before, there are all sorts of things that can be done to lower one’s PSA level, but knowing whether these effects are clinically meaningful is a very different issue.

In a new paper just published by Student et al. (from a research team in the Czech Republic), the authors have shown that prostate cancer patients who were scheduled to undergo radical prostatectomy as a treatment for prostate cancer could lower their PSA levels by drinking cranberry juice (made by dissolving 1,500 mg of cranberry fruit powder) for 30 days prior to their surgery. But what does this actually mean?

Student et al. randomized 64 patients to drinking the cranberry juice or to drinking a placebo for an average of 30 days prior to their radical prostatectomy. Here is a summary of what they found: Compared to the men taking the placebo, the men drinking the cranberry juice Experienced a drop of 22.5 percent in their PSA levels prior to their surgery. Exhibited “a trend to down-regulation” of urinary beta-microseminoprotein (MSMB) and serum gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase Exhibited a trend to upregulation of IGF-1 Showed no changes in prostate tissue markers or in composition and concentration of phenolics in urine

The authors conclude that

Daily consumption of a powdered cranberry fruit lowered serum PSA in patients with prostate cancer. The whole fruit contains constituents that may regulate the expression of androgen-responsive genes. However, there is no sign from these data that drinking cranberry juice actually made any clinical difference to the outcomes for these patients. Of course drinking cranberry juice is unlikely to do you any significant harm, so if you like drinking it, go right ahead. In a previous paper the same group of authors say they have also shown that drinking cranberry juice can lower PSA levels in men who were biopsy negative for prostate cancer and for chronic non-bacterial prostatitis. Of course if you have been drinking cranberry juice on a regular basis (whether you have prostate cancer or not), then what is clear is that you and your doctors had better be aware that this can lower PSA levels. In other words, a man with a PSA level of 2.5 ng/ml who has been regularly drinking cranberry juice might have a “real” PSA level of more like 4.0 ng/ml, which might make it wise for him to realize that he is at risk for prostate cancer. Now what might be interesting would be to see whether drinking cranberry juice might help men with low-risk prostate cancer to stay on active surveillance as opposed to having treatment they they don’t really need (because the cranberry juice might help to keep their PSA levels a little lower).

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Filed under: Diagnosis, Living with Prostate Cancer, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: cranberry, juice, PSA, risk |

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Can you take cranberry pills long term?

Cranberry pills are good for UTIs, heart and gut health, and while they are generally safe it is unknown if they are safe to take long-term.

medicinenet.com - What Do Cranberry Pills Do for You, and Is It OK to Take Them Every Day?

What are cranberry pills?

Cranberry pills are made from cranberry fruit dried and crushed into powder form. Cranberry pills are good for UTIs, heart and gut health, and while they are generally safe it is unknown if they are safe to take long-term. The cranberry is an evergreen shrub that has dark green leaves, pink flowers, and dark red fruit that we consume and generally refer to as cranberries. The cranberry fruit is small and egg-shaped. It is widely used for certain health benefits, like the prevention of urinary tract infections (UTIs). To serve this and other functions, cranberry fruit can be dried and crushed to be made into small tablets or capsules, which are called cranberry pills. Cranberry pills are made from cranberry fruit dried and crushed into powder form. The pills come in small tablets or capsules for ease of swallowing. Cranberry pills are dietary supplements and offer an easier way to gain the benefits that the cranberry fruit has to bring. People rarely eat the fresh cranberry fruit because of its sour and harsh flavor. This has resulted in a wide variety of cranberry products, including cranberry pills. Some cranberry pills may also contain other ingredients that further act as dietary supplements. These ingredients may be vitamin C or probiotics. The capsules or tablets typically contain 200 to 500 mg of dried cranberry. These pills are widely available in drugstores and online.