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Invited Commentary
July 25, 2011

Cranberries as Antibiotics? Comment on “Cranberries vs Antibiotics to Prevent Urinary Tract Infections: A Randomized Double-Blind Noninferiority Trial in Premenopausal Women”

Author Affiliations

Author Affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Little Rock.

Arch Intern Med. 2011;171(14):1279-1280. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2011.332

Plants are Mother Nature's consummate organic chemists, producing myriad phytochemicals whose structures often create a host of pharmacophores that underlie many, if not most, contemporary medicines. Up until the early part of the 20th century, plants, or more specifically multicomponent botanical extracts, were staples in the pharmacopeias of most countries. As such, they played an important role in the development of modern medicine. With the advancement of the modern pharmaceutical industry following World War II, single-entity drug products have largely supplanted botanical medicines. Recently, however, a global resurgence in the use of botanical extracts has emerged.

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