Cranberry For Preventing Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Children and Adults
Jose Miguel Sequi-Canet* and Jose Miguel Sequi-Sabater
Background: Cranberry is widely used to prevent recurrent urinary tract infection, but benefit varies with population, formulation and outcome definition. This review examines its clinical role across the lifespan, prioritising patients without major urinary tract abnormalities.
Methods: A structured narrative review with a focused literature update combined a review-of-reviews approach, a PubMed update to 26 October 2026 and targeted reference tracing. References from supplied artificial-intelligence-assisted searches were verified against publications or bibliographic records. Evidence was mapped by age, clinical setting, formulation and directness. No new meta-analysis was performed.
Results: Current syntheses favour non-pregnant women with recurrent infection and selected children but do not support routine use in institutionalised older adults, pregnancy or neuromuscular bladder dysfunction. Recent adult trials strengthen the signal without establishing interchangeability between products. Infant evidence remains sparse and anatomically mixed. A commonly used adult target of approximately 36 mg of proanthocyanidins daily is not a validated paediatric dose or a universal efficacy threshold. Commercial assays, labelling and outcome ascertainment introduce substantial uncertainty.
Conclusions: Cranberry can be offered as an optional preventive strategy to appropriately assessed non-pregnant women and considered, with specialist advice, in selected children aged at least one year. Routine infant use is not supported. Product verification, shared decisions and planned reassessment are essential. Cranberry must not replace indicated antimicrobial treatment, investigation of recurrent systemic infection or established measures addressing impaired voiding and constipation.
