Cranberry juice and kidney stones

Introduction

It is only lately that people start paying attention to thefact that cranberry juice can be of great help for all those who suffer fromkidney stones and all the symptoms commonly affiliated with this medicalcondition. Some people still claim that cranberry juice actually is not thateffective when it comes to the treatment of kidney stones, so there are alwaysplenty of ongoing debates concerning the matter. Numerous researches haveactually confirmed that cranberry juice indeed is not that helpful when itcomes to treating this medical condition.

The Cranberry Juice And Kidney Stones Relation

The main purpose of kidneys in the human body is to filterthe blood and remove all the waste substances out of the body. They are alsovery important for a proper balance of fluids in the body and proper levels ofelectrolytes as well. The wastes from the kidney get transferred to the urinarybladder by means of an organ called ureter. The stones get formed in thekidneys because there are certain chemicals in the urine which often getcrystallized and become hard. These hardened substances are actually kidneystones. They can be formed in the urinary tract and the urinary bladder andtheir size and shape may vary depending on various factors. Gout and severalother diseases are the most common causes of the occurrence of kidney stones.They are always accompanied by extremely severe painful sensations in theabdominal area. There was always a popular belief that cranberry juice can bevery helpful in relieving the symptoms and treating the medical condition knownas kidney stones. Cranberry juice is very efficient in boosting the levels ofcalcium and oxalate in the urine, and these are actually the most commoningredients in the kidney stones. Oxalate can be found in chocolate, nuts andcoffee. The increased growth of calcium oxalate is mainly due to thesignificant amount of vitamin C contained in the cranberry juice. In the end,one comes to the conclusion that not only that cranberry juice does not helptreat the condition, it actually worsens it.

Various Medical Benefits Of Cranberry Juice

Cranberry juice can be of great help for all those whosuffer from different types of urinary tract infections. This is mainly due tothe fact that it contains significant amounts of oligomeric proanthocyanidins.It can be also used for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases,respiratory infections, cancers and stomach ulcers.