Cranberry Juice

The Controversy

Over the past six years, a controversy about the use of cranberry juice and tablets has been developing. The basic issue is that whilst the massive marketing power of the multi-billion dollar cranberry industry is continually sponsoring trials which fail to show any positive effects of using cranberry, and usually show negative effects, (if the figures are looked at with an unbiased non-cranberry-funded eye), the industry is still pushing cranberry as being useful against urinary tract infections.

The controversy results when honesty comes into conflict with marketing efforts.

The result of the controversy is that the cranberry industry just spends more on marketing efforts. It is to their benefit. For every dollar they spend on marketing, they make 2 dollars profit. [Article]

Somehow though, they have managed to persuade thousands of doctors and other health professionals that they should tell anybody with a UTI to drink cranberry, and take vitamin C. They employ professional copywriters and PR firms. They issue press releases all the time with health claims that are totally unsupported. They are pursuing masses of reasearch desperately trying to find something that cranberry is actually useful for, and they steadfastly ignore and bury all the negative results their trials continualy bring forth.

Statistical uncertainty, and variations in research methods means they can easily obscure the facts about how damaging cranberry is.

The real controversy should be about how the pro-cranberry lobby have been able to manipulate not only the public but the medical establishment too. And it should discuss how doctors can look research on the effects of cranberry without realising that most of the effects are bad effects.