Many of us do our best to consume foods that are good for us regularly. However, this isn’t always possible and can be expensive, time consuming or even stressful to have to think about.
While it is best to try to eat a wide variety of healthy foods in our diet, sometimes making a small change like adding one item to our daily routine is a good place to start.
If this is something you’re thinking of trying, one expert recommended trying a specific drink.
According to NHS surgeon Doctor Karan Raj, cranberry juice can help not only reduce inflammation in the body but boost your all important gut health.
He explained some of the health benefits in a video posted to social media platform TikTok.
In the video, Dr Raj was responding to another creator who said she regularly drinks cranberry juice. She said: “I started drinking cranberry juice every day, not for a UTI but for my gut health, because I had a doctor on my podcast who said that getting red pigments in your diet is the most important thing that you can do for your gut bacteria.”
Dr Raj endorsed the drink for its benefits, saying: “If you want a really easy way to improve your gut health, then do this. When you drink cranberry juice you get a dose of one of the most beneficial nutrients you can get from any diet – polyphenols.
“These are natural plant antioxidants which can help to reduce inflammation and provide some more gut health benefits. The type of polyphenols found in cranberries, which also give it its vibrant colour are called proanthocyanidins.”
These polyphenols help to reduce the growth of bad bacteria leading to better gut health, according to Dr Raj.
He continued: “In fact, there is growing evidence that the cranberry polyphenols can act as prebiotics, basically food for the good bacteria. So they promote the growth of beneficial strains like akkermansia, bifidobacterium and lactobacillus.”
However, he advised that a healthier way to get the benefits of cranberries is by eating them as a fruit or blending them into a drink yourself.
“Obviously the benefits from eating cranberries or blending the fruit into a smoothie are far greater than just the juice because it lacks fibre,” he said. “But occasionally, it’s a convenient option for a boost of plant pigments.”
He recommended eating foods such as raspberries, blueberries and aubergine for their polyphenols.
Dr Raj added: “If you want to eat food with the highest concentrations of polyphenols then just choose plants that are dark red, purple or blue. If you eat a wide range of colourful plants, you maximise the chances of getting a variety of plant pigments and polyphenols.
“Different polyphenols each have a unique impact on the gut microbiome. Meaning each one can help you support different microbes. So now you’ve got an excuse to go and buy aubergine.”
A one litre carton of cranberry juice can currently be bought from Asda for £1.20, or 12p a serving.