<p>A handful of people taking the popular anticoagulant warfarin complained that drinking large amounts of cranberry juice seemed to heighten the drug’s effects, causing unusual bleeding. Soon, other reports of cranberry complications came to light, and investigators theorised that compounds in the fruit might deactivate an enzyme that normally breaks down warfarin, prompting British health officials to issue warnings.<br /><br />But many experts now suspect that the cases were coincidental. A clinical study by researchers at Tufts, for example, found no evidence that cranberry juice enhanced warfarin’s effects. Nor did a separate study that tested the effects of drinking about seven ounces of cranberry juice a day in people taking warfarin.<br /><br />Dr Jack Ansell, chairman of the department of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, and some colleagues found in a randomised, double-blind study that patients on warfarin who drank up to eight ounces of cranberry juice a day had no greater risk of bleeding than those given a placebo.<br /><br />“My recommendation to patients on warfarin therapy is that they should feel free to drink cranberry juice in moderation,” Dr Ansell said.<br /><br />The verdict<br /><br />Cranberry juice, in moderation, appears to be safe for anticoagulant users.<br /><br /><em>Anahad O’ Connor<br />NYT </em></p>
<p>A handful of people taking the popular anticoagulant warfarin complained that drinking large amounts of cranberry juice seemed to heighten the drug’s effects, causing unusual bleeding. Soon, other reports of cranberry complications came to light, and investigators theorised that compounds in the fruit might deactivate an enzyme that normally breaks down warfarin, prompting British health officials to issue warnings.<br /><br />But many experts now suspect that the cases were coincidental. A clinical study by researchers at Tufts, for example, found no evidence that cranberry juice enhanced warfarin’s effects. Nor did a separate study that tested the effects of drinking about seven ounces of cranberry juice a day in people taking warfarin.<br /><br />Dr Jack Ansell, chairman of the department of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, and some colleagues found in a randomised, double-blind study that patients on warfarin who drank up to eight ounces of cranberry juice a day had no greater risk of bleeding than those given a placebo.<br /><br />“My recommendation to patients on warfarin therapy is that they should feel free to drink cranberry juice in moderation,” Dr Ansell said.<br /><br />The verdict<br /><br />Cranberry juice, in moderation, appears to be safe for anticoagulant users.<br /><br /><em>Anahad O’ Connor<br />NYT </em></p>
