Latest Developments in Cranberry Health Research

Representing the most common flavonoid consumed in the American diet, the flavan-3-ols and their polymeric condensation products, the proanthocyanidins, are regarded as functional ingredients in various beverages, whole and processed foods, herbal remedies and supplements. Their presence in food affects food quality parameters such as astringency, bitterness, sourness, sweetness, salivary viscosity, aroma, and color formation. The ability of flavan-3-ols to aid food functionality has also been established in terms of microbial stability, foamability, oxidative stability, and heat stability. While some foods only contain monomeric flavan-3-ols [(-)-epicatechin predominates] and dimeric proanthocyanidins, most foods contain oligomers of degree of polymerization values ranging from 1-10 or greater than 10. Flavan-3-ols have been reported to exhibit several health beneficial effects by acting as antioxidant, anticarcinogen, cardiopreventive, antimicrobial, anti-viral, and neuro-protective agents. This review summarizes the distribution and health effects of these compounds.

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“…More information on cranberry effects on atherosclerosis may be found in the works of Reed [120] and Leahy et al [121].…”

Section: Cranberriesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Flavan‐3‐ols: Nature, occurrence and biological activity

Aron

Kennedy²

2008

Molecular Nutrition Food Res

656

491

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“…Proanthocyanidins can prevent urinary tract infections by reducing adhesion of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (Leahy et al 2002). Cranberries may help to prevent cardiovascular disease (McKay and Blumberg 2007) and they display antibacterial, anticancer, antiulcer and antioxidant activities (Wang et al 1999).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

EST-PCR, EST-SSR and ISSR markers to identify a set of wild cranberries and evaluate their relationships

Bykova

Debnath

2015

Can. J. Plant Sci.

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An, D., Bykova, N. V. and Debnath, S. C. 2015. EST-PCR, EST-SSR and ISSR markers to identify a set of wild cranberries and evaluate their relationships. Can. J. Plant Sci. 95: 1155Á1165. The cranberry (Vaccinium marcrocarpon Ait.) is a woody, evergreen, perennial vine with great potential for economic and health benefits. Selection and use of genetically diverse genotypes are key factors in any crop breeding program to develop cultivars with a broad genetic base. Molecular markers play a major role in selecting diverse genotypes. One hundred and two wild cranberry clones collected from four Canadian provinces and five cultivars were screened with inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR), expressed sequence tagÁ simple sequence repeat (EST-SSR) and ESTÁpolymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers to validate the genetic diversity and relationships among them. EST-PCRs (0.54) and EST-SSRs (0.35) generated higher frequency of major alleles than ISSRs (0.08), but ISSRs presented a higher level of polymorphism and greater polymorphic information content and expected heterozygosity than EST-SSRs and EST-PCRs. Combined cluster analysis by the unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) separated the wild clones and cultivars into four main clusters, which was in agreement with the principal coordinate (PCo) analysis. Analysis of molecular variation detected sufficient variations among genotypes within communities and among communities within provinces with ISSR (66 and 36%, respectively), EST-PCR (72 and 34%, respectively) and EST-SSR (72 and 34%, respectively) markers. These values were 71 and 35%, respectively, for combined analysis. Combined use of three types of molecular markers, for the first time in Vaccinium species, detected a sufficient degree of variation among cranberry genotypes, allowing for differentiation and rendering these technologies valuable for genotype identification in a diverse cranberry germplasm and for more efficient parental choice in the current cranberry breeding program. Abbreviations: AFLP, amplified fragment length polymorphism; AMOVA, analysis of molecular variance; CCC, cophenetic correlation coefficient; EST, expressed sequence tag; ISSR, inter simple sequence repeat; PCo, principal coordinate; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; PIC, polymorphism information content; RAPD, randomly amplified polymorphic DNA; SSR, simple (short) sequence repeat; UPGMA, unweighted pair group method with arithmetic means Can.

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“…), a member of the family Ericaceae, is a slender, creeping, woody, evergreen perennial vine native to North America (Vander Kloet 1988). Cranberries contain relatively high levels of vitamin C, cellulose and pectin, and produce anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins (condensed tannins) which have been shown to help prevent urinary tract infections through reduced adhesion of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (Leahy et al 2002). The anthocyanin content of cranberry is believed to have important therapeutic values, including antitumor, antiulcer, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities (Wang et al 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Zeatin-induced one-step in vitro cloning affects the vegetative growth of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) micropropagules over stem cuttings

Debnath

2008

Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult

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Shoot proliferation and rooting of three cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) cultivars Bergman, Pilgrim, and Stevens were obtained in vitro on a modified nutrient medium containing zeatin following a one-step procedure. Bergman and Stevens differed in terms of shoot height, leaf number per shoot, rooting frequency, root number per explant, and root length; this was manifested with various concentrations of zeatin. Shoots proliferated and roots developed best when nodal segments were cultured in the medium supplemented with very low concentration of zeatin (2-4 lM). Such zeatininduced tissue culture (TC) shoots of Bergman, Pilgrim, and Stevens were rooted ex vitro and compared with those propagated by conventional softwood cuttings (SC) for growth and morphology over four growth seasons. Significant interactions for leaf number per upright were observed among the treatments. The cultivars differed in terms of runner number per plant, upright length, number of leaves per upright, and shoot vigor. The propagation method had an effect on morphology of cranberry plants. The TC plants produced more runners and uprights with more leaves per upright than the conventional cuttings. This increase in vegetative growth of in vitro-derived plants over stem cuttings varied among genotypes. In vitro culture on zeatin-containing nutrient medium apparently induces the juvenile branching characteristics that favored enhanced vegetative growth with more shoots and leaf production.

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Latest Developments in Cranberry Health Research

Cited by 21 publications

References 16 publications

Flavan‐3‐ols: Nature, occurrence and biological activity

Flavan‐3‐ols: Nature, occurrence and biological activity

EST-PCR, EST-SSR and ISSR markers to identify a set of wild cranberries and evaluate their relationships

Zeatin-induced one-step in vitro cloning affects the vegetative growth of cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon Ait.) micropropagules over stem cuttings

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