Elsevier

Advances in Nutrition

Volume 7, Issue 4, July 2016, Pages 759S-770S
Advances in Nutrition

Impact of Cranberries on Gut Microbiota and Cardiometabolic Health: Proceedings of the Cranberry Health Research Conference 2015

https://doi.org/10.3945/an.116.012583Get rights and content
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open access

Abstract

Recent advances in cranberry research have expanded the evidence for the role of this Vaccinium berry fruit in modulating gut microbiota function and cardiometabolic risk factors. The A-type structure of cranberry proanthocyanidins seems to be responsible for much of this fruit's efficacy as a natural antimicrobial. Cranberry proanthocyanidins interfere with colonization of the gut by extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli in vitro and attenuate gut barrier dysfunction caused by dietary insults in vivo. Furthermore, new studies indicate synergy between these proanthocyanidins, other cranberry components such as isoprenoids and xyloglucans, and gut microbiota. Together, cranberry constituents and their bioactive catabolites have been found to contribute to mechanisms affecting bacterial adhesion, coaggregation, and biofilm formation that may underlie potential clinical benefits on gastrointestinal and urinary tract infections, as well as on systemic anti-inflammatory actions mediated via the gut microbiome. A limited but growing body of evidence from randomized clinical trials reveals favorable effects of cranberry consumption on measures of cardiometabolic health, including serum lipid profiles, blood pressure, endothelial function, glucoregulation, and a variety of biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress. These results warrant further research, particularly studies dedicated to the elucidation of dose-response relations, pharmacokinetic/metabolomics profiles, and relevant biomarkers of action with the use of fully characterized cranberry products. Freeze-dried whole cranberry powder and a matched placebo were recently made available to investigators to facilitate such work, including interlaboratory comparability.

cranberry
proanthocyanidins
microbiome
cardiometabolic
antimicrobial

Abbreviations used

AIEC
adherent-invasive Escherichia coli
BP
blood pressure
CAD
coronary artery disease
CEACAM
carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule
CJC
cranberry juice cocktail
c-PAC
cranberry proanthocyanidin standard
CRP
C-reactive protein
CVD
cardiovascular disease
DP
degree of polymerization
EEN
elemental enteral nutrition
ExPEC
extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli
FimH
protein FimH
FMD
flow-mediated vasodilation
FWCP
freeze-dried whole-cranberry powder
Muc-2
mucin 2
Nrf2
nuclear factor E2-related factor 2
PapG
fimbrial adhesin PapG
ProA2
procyanidin A2
sIgA
secretory IgA
SRM
standard reference material
STAT6
signal transducers and activators of transcription 6
Th2
T-helper 2
T2D
type 2 diabetes
UTI
urinary tract infection

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Published in a supplement to Advances in Nutrition. Presented at the Cranberry Health Research Conference, held in Madison, Wisconsin, 12 October 2015 and sponsored by the Cranberry Institute (CI), the US Cranberry Marketing Committee (CMC), and the American Cranberry Growers Association. The Supplement Coordinator for this supplement was Cheryl D Toner. Supplement Coordinator disclosure: Cheryl D Toner is the contracted Health Research Coordinator for the CI and a consultant to the CI and the CMC. Publication costs for this supplement were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This publication must therefore be hereby marked “advertisement” in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and are not attributable to the sponsors or the publisher, Editor, or Editorial Board of Advances in Nutrition.

This is a free access article, distributed under terms (http://www.nutrition.org/publications/guidelines-and-policies/license/) that permit unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Author disclosures: The Cranberry Institute (CI) provided travel expense reimbursement to all authors and provided an honorarium to each author except for JA Novotny and CD Toner. CD Toner is a consultant to the CI and the CMC and formerly to the Juice Products Association. JB Blumberg is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the CI and the CMC and has received research support from the CI and Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. CG Krueger, JD Reed, and A Rodriguez-Mateos have received research support from the CI. JA Novotny has received research support from Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.