Cranberry may be antibiotic alternative

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Compounds in cranberry juice have the ability to change E. coli bacteria, a class of microorganisms responsible many illnesses, say U.S researchers.

Scientists at Worcester Polytechnic Institute suggest that the cranberry may provide an alternative to antibiotics, particularly for combating E. coli bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics.

Cranberry juice has been shown to prevent urinary tract infections, but Terri Camesano, associate professor of chemical engineering, and graduate students Yatao Liu and Paola Pinzon-Arango can now explain that a group of tannins -- proanthocyanidins -- found primarily in cranberries affect E. coli in three devastating ways.

The cranberry compounds prevent the bacteria from adhering to cells in the body, a necessary first step in all infections: by changing the shape of the bacteria from rods to spheres, by altering their cell membranes and making it difficult for bacteria to make contact with cells, or from latching on to them should they get close enough.

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Francisco.