Daily consumption of cranberry extract appears to have a positive impact on the composition of the intestinal microbiota, which could then have an impact on the health of the entire body, shows a new study carried out at Laval University.
Posted at 7:36 a.m.
Jean-Benoit Legault
The Canadian Press
The research team led by Professor Yves Desjardins, from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, found that taking 240 milligrams of cranberry extract twice a day stimulated, among other things, gender bacterial Bifidobacterium, which is associated with a reduced risk of diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases.
The researchers asked forty people to take cranberry extract morning and evening, which was equivalent to 60 grams of fresh cranberries. After just four days, plasma, urine and stool samples already showed positive changes in the participants’ gut microbiota.
“It was really a surprise for us,” admitted Jacob Lessard-Lord, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute on Nutrition and Functional Foods at the Quebec university.
Bifidobacteria are usually stimulated by the consumption of dietary fiber. This time, the researchers observed the same effect with cranberry extract, but with a dose approximately twenty times lower.
Cranberry extract also stimulated the bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila, which plays an important role in intestinal mucosa by helping to reduce inflammation and strengthen the intestinal barrier.
This would be particularly relevant to counter the harmful effects of the North American diet, which is known to modify the microbiota, cause inflammation of the mucosa and compromise the integrity of the intestinal barrier.
How cranberry extracts contribute to the health of the gut microbiota has not been fully elucidated, Lessard-Lord said.
“There are the polyphenols that were present in the tablet, but there were also compounds called oligosaccharides,” he explained. These are slightly smaller fibers, therefore slightly shorter molecules, which can serve as food for these bacteria in our intestine because they are not things that can be absorbed in the small intestine. All of this goes directly to the colon, where it is broken down by these bacteria which can be beneficial for our health. »
This discovery obviously does not replace the adoption of a healthy diet, he stressed, but it is a relatively simple change that can contribute to health.
The study was published in the scientific journal npj Biofilms & Microbiomes.
