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FOR years, women have drunk cranberry juice to soothe urinary tract
infections. Now, the practice has gained official credence from a one-year study
by Tero Kontiokari and his colleagues at the University of Oulu in Finland. Out
of 150 women who frequently suffered urinary tract infections, they found that
the infections were 20 per cent less likely to recur in cranberry juice drinkers
(British Medical Journal, vol 322, p 1571). The women were divided into
three equal groups. Infections recurred in just 8 of the 50 women who drank
cranberry juice compared with 18 cases in the controls and 19 in women given a
drink containing potentially beneficial bacteria.