The Benefits Of Cranberries

Other Common Names: American Cranberry, Large Cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon

Range: Eastern N. America, Native to North America

Habitat: Acid boggy ground, the plant is cultivated in Cranberry bogs throughout New England and elsewhere.

Cranberry has long been recommended as a preventive measure against repeated urinary tract infections. It is also taken to prevent kidney stones and "bladder gravel." The medicinal part is the ripe fruit.

Cranberry prevents E. coli--the most common cause of urinary tract infections--from adhering to the wall of the bladder, making it difficult for infection to take hold. It will not, however, kill the bacteria once they're established.

An infusion of the branches has been used as a treatment for pleurisy.

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