Like kale and blueberries before it, cranberry juice is the superfood of our times. Centuries ago, an American boat crashed off the shores of Terschelling Island in Holland. The cranberries spilt into the sand, found the perfect habitat to grow and spread.
They slowly took over Europe, and they’ve long been popular in the ski resorts of the alps, where the waitress might bring over a plate of wiener schnitzel with a mysterious pot of pink goo alongside it. This goo confuses any non-Austrian tourists who see it, but it’s actually cranberry sauce, and you should always eat it.
Nowadays, newspapers are cashing in particularly effectively, with screaming headlines about cranberry juice wiping out urinary tract infections. Good news, it does – but one study estimated that any woman who drank cranberry juice for 3.2 years prevented only one infection. It’s pretty feeble overall; don’t let the headline merchants suck you in.
But we couldn’t care less about that. What we’re interested in are the effects of cranberry juice on acne.
Cranberry juice increases antioxidant levels
If you’ve ever started drinking cranberry juice and been astonished at the improvement in acne, then there’s one simple explanation. Antioxidants, compounds which no acne patient can ignore if they want to prevent clogged pores and angry pimples.
The cranberry is the second highest commercial fruit in antioxidants, and is only beaten by the pomegranate. Consider blueberries; they’re certainly a superfood, if you like to use that term. Raw blueberries have a strong ORAC score of 4669…
Read Annihilate Your Acne – get the ultimate diet and clear your acne permanently!
…but cranberries absolutely destroy them, with a score of 9090. The variety of antioxidants is enormous. Cranberries are the richest common fruit in quercetin, as well as a little known antioxidant called peonidin. Other antioxidants found in cranberries include myricetin, ursolic acid, and A-type proanthocyanidins.
The question is whether the juice is just as strong. The lower ORAC score of 1452 would say no, but the studies on humans are more positive. For some reason, a vast amount have been conducted:
ONE – this study gathered 9 healthy women. 3 were ordered to drink 500ml of cranberry juice, 3 were ordered to drink 500ml of blueberry juice and 3 were ordered to drink sucrose solution.
Here we have an interesting comparison between two arch-rival superfruits, and the cranberry juice won. There was a 30% increase in blood vitamin C levels and a small but significant increase in phenolic antioxidant levels. Total blood antioxidant levels increased. With blueberry juice, none of those effects occurred. VERDICT: EXCELLENT.
TWO – two groups of rats were fed either water with an added 27% of cranberry juice, or a nonconcentrated 45% version (study).
Total plasma antioxidants increased, but there was no effect on bone mineral density. That’s interesting; it’s possible that cranberry juice increases antioxidant levels, but that the specific antioxidant types have a short half-life and don’t affect anything. On the other hand, antioxidants have never been famous for their bone density benefits anyway. VERDICT: MIXED.
THREE – some scientists were growing very concerned about people being misled by greedy advertisers boasting about antioxidants on billboards. Therefore, this noble team tested various fruit juices using various antioxidant measurements, including phenol content, and free radical absorbance capacity (FRAP). Here’s how they ranked: pomegranate juice>red wine> concord grape juice>blueberry juice>black cherry juice, acai juice, cranberry juice>orange juice, iced tea beverages, apple juice.
Cranberry juice didn’t fail miserably – it beat apple juice – but it didn’t succeed wildly either. VERDICT: DECENT.
FOUR – this study gave flavonoid rich cranberry juice to 21 men with a mean age of 38. After 14 days, the men enjoyed significantly increased plasma antioxidant capacities. VERDICT: VERY GOOD.
FIVE – finally, we have a study which the cranberry juice industry is planning to bury at this very moment. 20 healthy females in the prime age of their lives for acne (18-40 years) were fed 750ml of cranberry juice or a placebo for 2 weeks daily.
The juice had much higher vitamin C, total phenol, anthocyanins and catechin concentrations than the placebo, and had a higher FRAP score. Weirdly though, only the vitamin C translated into the bloodstream when volunteers drunk it. None of the other antioxidants increased, and nor did self-manufactured antioxidants like glutathione and superoxide dismutase. VERDICT: POOR.
The sugar threat
Cranberry juice clearly has some antioxidant powers. The juice isn’t as outstanding as the raw berries themselves, but considering the antioxidants in isolation, cranberry juice would be fairly acne-friendly. It would be a tasty beverage for all acne-related antioxidant benefits, such as reducing clogged pores and improving skin tone.
But here’s the problem – cranberry juice is a fruit juice. Like all commercial fruit juices, it contains astronomical amounts of sugar, with no natural plant matter to slow down the absorption.
Sugar is the one of the worst ingredients for acne ever. Consider raw cranberries themselves. They’re on the low end of the fruit spectrum, containing just 5 grams of sugar per 100 grams. To prevent acne, I advise you to keep to 50 grams of sugar daily (on average), but unsweetened cranberry juice contains 31 grams of sugar per standard cup of 253ml. Some advise choosing the unsweetened version to maximise the health benefits, but 31 grams is still enough to cause acne, and rapidly too.
When you gather hundreds of cranberries, stick them in a blender and convert them to juice, the result is a pure sugar bomb.
The count is higher than orange juice and apple juice, with 22.3 and 24.3 grams of sugar respectively. Both of those fruits contain twice as much sugar as cranberries in their raw state (9 grams and 10 grams respectively), but cranberries are more fibrous. It takes significantly more raw berries to make a fresh bottle of cranberry juice and hence, you get a lot more sugar as well.
Recommended – the top 6 vitamins and minerals for acne-free skin
The main consequence is inflammation; this study found that a sugary beverage increased the inflammatory biomarker C – reactive protein by a massive 105%. If you’ve previously connected reddened and inflamed pimples to a cheat meal (if so, well done), then sugar is the explanation.
Awareness of sugary fruit juice is spreading like wildlife these days. Orange juice and apple juice are seeing their reputation lying in ruins, but for some reason, cranberry juice has maintained its popularity.
Sugar also depletes your acne minerals like magnesium and zinc, and increases oily skin via surge in blood sugar and insulin. More importantly, a sugary bloodstream is a breeding ground for advanced glycation end productions (AGEs), free radicals created when bloodstream proteins react with glucose and become useless. These AGEs are more than a match for the toxic free radicals of air pollution or cigarettes.
Is cranberry juice beyond redemption?
The sugar aint going anywhere, but if you drink commercial cranberry juice while sitting around sedentary, are the antioxidants enough to outweigh the dangers?
The answer is a firm no. Drinking cranberry juice alongside some fibrous foods like almonds would help because you’d be delaying the absorption, but 31 grams per cup is still far too much. The surge in oily skin would be milder, but you’d achieve a longer plateau of inflammation.
The studies above show decent increases in blood antioxidants, which is great for acne. However, the dangers of sugar which are independent of antioxidants aren’t considered, particularly the surge in inflammation.
The top 7 topical treatments for clearing acne naturally
Of course, it depends on the quantities as well. If you love the taste of cranberry juice and just want to drink it safely, then a glass every two days should be safe. Study 1 fed women 500ml of cranberry juice and observed an increase in antioxidants; study 5 fed woman 750ml and noticed no increase. At higher intakes, the surge in AGE free radicals from the sugar could have overwhelmed the increased antioxidants, while at 500ml, perhaps the sugar intake was too low.
We can analyse the studies all day, but the answer is clear. Cranberry juice has decent antioxidant properties, but for acne, they’re not strong enough to counteract the surge in sugar.
Homemade cranberry juice is a different proposition though. If you buy a top quality fruit blender you can make your own cranberry juice. This will have the benefit of 1) freshness and 2) increased fiber levels.
The freshness will increase the quantities of vitamin C and antioxidants which often deplete during long storage in factories. With a mild, incomplete blend which is just intense enough to produce a drinkable beverage, you can keep fragments of skin and pulp floating in the juice as well, to delay the absorption of sugar.
It’s possible that homemade cranberry juice would tip you over the edge into acne-friendly territory. It would definitely be preferable, without a doubt.
Hit the gym and cranberry juice is yours
If you have a keen eye, you’ll have noticed that we used the word sedentary above. If you exercise, then cranberry juice is a different proposition.
Sugar which remains in your blood is an acne-causing menace; sugar which is burnt is very useful. If you drink your cranberry juice right before a gym session or cycle ride, you can burn the sugar off quickly and minimise the acne. You can improve your exercise performance as well.
If you love the taste of cranberry juice, then turn it into your personal energy drink – the same applies to apple juice and pomegranate juice. For acne, this is the number one way to gain maximum benefits from any fruit juice.
BONUS POWER – inhibition of a deadly bacteria
Recently, word may have reached you that human gut bacteria is gaining a new head of steam as an important health phenomenon.
One of the deadliest unhealthy strains is helicobacter pylori, which is linked to stomach cancer, but also skin conditions. Notably, it is linked to the acne lookalike called acne rosacea. This study concluded that rosacea patients had higher h. pylori activity in their gut flora than average.
This study fed h. pylori medication to rosacea patients and observed a big reduction in symptoms. It concluded that “H. pylori may be involved in rosacea and that eradication treatment may be beneficial”.
The fascinating relation to cranberry juice is that the two are arch rivals – neither can live while the other survives. In this study, 295 children drank cranberry juice daily for 3 weeks and h. pylori infections were suppressed in 17% of those affected. The theory is that unique cranberry compounds called A-type proanthocyanidins are responsible, and other studies showed CJ preventing h.pylori from attaching to the wall of the stomach.
If you have rosacea, then get to the gym tomorrow just so you can get some cranberry juice inside you. Check this article for the symptoms, because if your skin is red and shiny, you might not have real acne (acne vulgaris) at all.
Why using raw honey could revolutionise your skin
For acne, we’re just a millimetre away from hard proof that cranberry juice can work wonders in some people. It’s all dependent on you having a h. pylori overgrowth, but it’s possible that you do. Because of h. pylori, it might be worth hitting the gym with bottle in hand for a full month, just to see what happens.
Or of course, you could just eat a handful of cranberries daily, but if you don’t live by a dark forest which is teeming with wild fruit, you can use this Oregon’s Wild Harvest Organic Cranberry (amazon link). This will provide the antioxidant, bacteria-killing benefits without the vast amounts of sugar. This specific supplement is very pure, and free from toxic additives and chemicals.
Conclusion
Cranberry juice is not a superfood for acne. Raw cranberry fruits might qualify, but the juice is far too sugary and with less antioxidants.
Here’s your concise strategy. If you’re hunting for antioxidants and special acne powers, keep searching. There are too many great foods to justify the effort in making cranberry juice safe. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or a basic pomegranate from a supermarket are superior.
If you came here to enjoy your favourite beverage without pimples, then cut your intake to one glass every two days. Alternatively, use cranberry juice as an effective pre-workout energy drink.
NEXT: get the complete strategy for clearing acne naturally
Thanks for reading!