To Determine the Metabolic Polymorphisms of American Cranberries to Prevent UTIs in Susceptible Women Using an Integrated Metabolome-Microbiome Approach

The American cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon) have been consumed for centuries to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs), which affect 50% of women in their lifetime. However, NIH-funded clinical trials of cranberries on UTI in the last 20 years yielded conflicting results, but the reasons are unknown. About 90% of UTIs are initiated by adhesion of uropathogenic E. coli on urinary tract epithelia. It was reported that human urine after cranberry intake inhibited the adhesion of E. coli. A-type procyanidins and xyloglucans are the presumed bioactives in cranberries; however, none of these compounds are absorbable in the small intestine. They are degraded by microbes in the colon. The pre-preliminary study showed that the urine from a portion of study participants had anti-adhesion activity, suggesting there are polymorphisms in humans' ability to metabolize cranberry bioactives. The investigators propose that UTI susceptible women can be divided into responders and non-responders depending on whether cranberry intake increases anti-adhesion activity of their urine.