Can Cranberry Supplements Prevent UTIs?

If you’ve ever dealt with recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs), chances are someone has recommended cranberry supplements. For years, they’ve been promoted as a natural way to prevent infections—but do they actually work?

The short answer: sometimes. But not for everyone.

What the Latest Research Tells Us

The most comprehensive review to date—a 2023 Cochrane analysis—looked at dozens of studies and found that cranberry products can reduce the risk of symptomatic, lab-confirmed UTIs in several groups:

• Women with recurrent infections
• Children
• Individuals at increased risk due to certain medical procedures

In these populations, cranberry supplements reduced the risk of UTIs by 26% to over 50%, depending on the group studied. [1]

How do they work? Researchers believe it comes down to proanthocyanidins, compounds in cranberries that make it harder for harmful E. coli bacteria to stick to the bladder wall. [2]

But There's a Catch

Not everyone sees the same benefit.

That same Cochrane review found little to no benefit from cranberry use in:

• Elderly adults living in institutions
• Pregnant women
• Adults with neurogenic bladder or incomplete bladder emptying

This last point is especially important for people who use intermittent catheters, a group often affected by neuromuscular bladder dysfunction. For these individuals, evidence is limited and low in certainty. In fact, studies to date haven’t shown a meaningful reduction in UTI risk for IC users taking cranberry products. [1,3–4]

A recent meta-analysis suggested cranberry might help patients with indwelling catheters, but again, the data on intermittent catheter users was inconclusive. [4]

What Do the Guidelines Say?

The American Urological Association’s most recent guidance on recurrent UTIs in women includes cranberry products as an option. The recommendation? They may be used as a non-antibiotic preventive approach, with moderate-quality evidence and no significant side effects. [5]

That said, there’s still no standardized approach to what kind of cranberry product is best. Juice or capsules? Sweetened or unsweetened? One common recommendation is to choose products that contain at least 36 mg of proanthocyanidins daily, which seems to be the threshold for effectiveness.[6]

Bottom Line

Cranberry supplements can be a helpful tool for some people looking to reduce UTI risk—particularly women with recurrent infections. But for individuals using intermittent catheters or living with neurogenic bladder, current evidence doesn’t support cranberry as an effective preventive strategy.

As always, it’s worth talking to your clinician about what works for your body. And while natural remedies can be appealing, they’re not always one-size-fits-all.

References

[1] Williams G, Stothart CI, Hahn D, et al. Cranberries for Preventing Urinary Tract Infections. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2023;11:CD001321. doi:10.1002/14651858.CD001321.pub7.

[2] Scharf B, Schmidt TJ, Rabbani S, et al. Antiadhesive Natural Products Against Uropathogenic E. coli: What Can We Learn From Cranberry Extract? Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2020;257:112889. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2020.112889.

[3] Guay DR. Cranberry and Urinary Tract Infections. Drugs. 2009;69(7):775–807. doi:10.2165/00003495-200969070-00002.

[4] Xia JY, Yang C, Xu DF, et al. Consumption of Cranberry as Adjuvant Therapy for Urinary Tract Infections in Susceptible Populations: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis With Trial Sequential Analysis. PloS One. 2021;16(9):e0256992. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0256992.

[5] Anger JT, Bixler BR, Holmes RS, et al. Updates to Recurrent Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections in Women: AUA/CUA/SUFU Guideline. The Journal of Urology. 2022;208(3):536–541. doi:10.1097/JU.0000000000002860.

[6] Jepson R, Craig J, Williams G. Cranberry Products and Prevention of Urinary Tract Infections. JAMA. 2013;310(13):1395–6. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.277509.