According to a recent study, cranberry extracts have been found to make disease-causing bacteria more sensitive to lower doses of antibiotics. The study may also help counter the global threat of superbugs. The spread of antibiotic resistance worldwide is undermining decades of progress in fighting bacterial infections
Due to the overuse of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture, we are on the cusp of returning to a pre-antibiotic era in which minor infections can once again become deadly. Countering the fall in antibiotic efficacy by improving the effectiveness of currently available antibiotics is a crucial goal, according to researchers from the McGill University and INRS (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) in Canada.
Cranberries are highly sought after for their tangy taste and the antioxidants they contain.
The study, published in the journal Advanced Science, provides evidence that they could also help in the fight against bacteria. When treated with molecules derived from cranberries, pathogenic bacteria become more sensitive to lower doses of antibiotics and prevent resistance to the antibiotics.
“Normally when we treat bacteria with an antibiotic in the lab, the bacteria eventually acquire resistance over time,” said Nathalie Tufenkji, lead author of the study. “But when we simultaneously treated the bacteria with an antibiotic and the cranberry extract, no resistance developed. We were very surprised by this, and we see it as an important opportunity,” Tufenkji said in a statement.
“The activity is generated by molecules called proanthocyanidins. There are several different kinds of proanthocyanidins, and they may work together to deliver this outcome. We’ll need to do more research to determine which ones are most active in synergy with the antibiotic,” said Eric Deziel, a professor at INRS. After confirming the activity of the cranberry molecules on bacterial culture, the researchers tested to determine whether the pattern persisted in a preliminary animal model: infected insects.Since the synergistic effect of the extract and the antibiotic was also observed in the insects, further experiments will be conducted to clearly identify the active molecules.
If the results are confirmed in animals, certain classes of antibiotics subject to high levels of resistance could be made useful again by using cranberry extract to boost their potential.
