Among the many benefits granted to the consumption of blueberries, one of the most striking is its ability to prevent and combat urinary tract infections. These ailments are relatively common among the general population, and especially affect women. While they do not pose an alarming health risk, they can be serious in children, pregnant women or the elderly.
One of the common treatments for urinary tract infections is antibiotics, but they must be prescribed by health professionals, since continuous use (especially in people who suffer from these infections recurrently) can lead to bacterial resistance. Faced with this, the consumption of blueberries tends to be one of the main recommendations to combat and prevent such episodes, since they contain proanthocyanidin, a substance that prevents bacteria such as E. coli from adhering to the walls of the bladder. But this has not been entirely clear, since different studies have found contradictory results.
In a review carried out by the Cochrane medical library and shared by the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), 50 clinical trials were studied in order to compare the true effectiveness of blueberries to prevent these conditions in six types of patients: women with recurrent infections, children with a history of urinary infection, pregnant women, people with recent surgical interventions in the genitourinary system (prostate, bladder, kidneys, etc.), elderly people, and people with neuromuscular involvement of the bladder.
The results of the study indicate that the consumption of products made with blueberries, such as juices, capsules or tablets, effectively reduces the risk of suffering from urinary infections in three of the six groups of patients studied. Specifically, its effectiveness was demonstrated in women with recurrent infections, children and people with surgical interventions that affect the bladder. For the other groups studied, the consumption of blueberries did not yield conclusive results.
Despite the conclusions published by Cochrane, not all clinical trials studied have the same level of certainty. According to the library, additional evaluations are necessary to further clarify this issue, in order to establish which specific population groups (in addition to those already mentioned) could benefit from blueberry-based products.
