Li, Z., Seeram,
N., Carpenter, C., Heber, D., Medicine, UCLA, Center for Human
Nutrition.
In 2003, a report from the UK’s Committee on the Safety
of Medicines suggested that cranberry beverages might interact
with warfarin medications, preventing their anti-clotting effectiveness.
However, this new randomized, placebo controlled, cross-over study
by Li, et al. measured the effect of cranberry juice on International
Normalized Ratio (INR) - a widely accepted standard
unit for reporting prothrombin time (PT) - of patients taking
warfarin for artial fibrillation. The INR was measured at baseline
and on days two, four and seven. For all of the test points, INR
did not change significantly from baseline, and none of the mean
differences between cranberry and placebo were significant. These
results suggest that there is no significant interaction between
cranberry juice and warfarin.
This new study was presented at Experimental Biology (Federation
of American Societies for Experimental Biology), San Diego, CA,
April, 2005.
Statement on Warfarin Use and Cranberry Consumption |
