Health Benefits of Cranberry Juice
Whether it’s Ocean Spray, Juicy Juice or a host of other natural beverage providers, cranberry juice has been successfully marketed to a wide base of thirsty consumers. However, what you are drinking in these store bought containers is usually not pure cranberry juice. In its purest form, cranberry juice has a distinctively tart taste, bitter to some palettes. In order to make cranberry juice more enjoyable for the average drinker, sugar, artificial sweeteners or other fruit juices are usually added to give it the common taste you’ve come to expect. Even in this diluted form, cranberry juice still retains valuable health-enhancing incentives provided by natural cranberries, rewarding those who drink it regularly. If you want to take advantage of the cocktail’s healthy benefits, make sure whatever brand you buy actually contains a large percentage of authentic cranberry juice, with no preservatives, artificial flavors or artificial coloring.Cranberry juice is loaded with natural vitamins and minerals, in addition to large doses of dietary fibers, antioxidants and phytochemical nutrients, which help to combat heart disease and cancer. The large quantities of Vitamin C combined with high amounts of acid can help to prevent kidney stones from forming and break down existing ones. Your mouth benefits beyond your already thankful taste buds as cranberry juice can help to fight off the formation of oral bacteria, often leading to plaque buildup and gum disease.While everyone has a lot to gain from drinking a lot of cranberry juice, it is particularly important for women to incorporate it into their daily diet. An estimated one quarter of all women will be affected by a urinary tract infection at some point, with an elevated risk found in older women. Cranberry juice has been used both as a prevention method and remedy to urinary tract infections, dating back to what used to be an old wives’ tale. Scientific research, however, has substantiated this claim and cranberry juice is now widely recognized as viable aid.