For many years women have been led to believe that cranberry products such as juice and capsules help prevent or heal urinary tract infections (UTIs). A new study is blunt and reinforces what other research has found: The cranberry does nothing for UTIs.

“It is time to move on from cranberries,” Dr. Lindsay Nicolle, of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, wrote in an editorial accompanying the new study.

There was no difference between women who took cranberry pills or placebos.

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Researchers at Yale University randomly assigned 185 women over 65 years old living in 21 nursing homes to take cranberry pills every day. The participants received either two capsules containing cranberry extracts including a total of 72 milligrams of proanthocyanidin, the equivalent of a person drinking a 20-ounce bottle of cranberry juice — or they got look-alike dummy pills.

Proanthocyanidin is the compound in cranberries once believed to prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder wall.

At the start of the study, about a third of the women had positive urine tests for bacteria and white blood cells, which doesn’t mean the women had UTIs but had both elements required for an infection to occur.

[lz_bulleted_list title=”Health Benefits of Cranberries” source=”http://www.webmd.com”]Cranberries have vitamin C and fiber, and are only 45 calories per cup. In disease-fighting antioxidants, cranberries outrank nearly every fruit and vegetable. One cup of whole cranberries has 8,983 total antioxidant capacity. Only blueberries top that. [/lz_bulleted_list]

After a year, there was no difference between women who took cranberry pills or placebos in the proportion of those who had bacteria and white blood cells in their urine. Additionally, there was no difference between the two groups in the share of women who experienced symptomatic UTIs, died, were sent to hospitals or used antibiotics. The results were published in JAMA.

Authors of the study said there is little downside to people eating or drinking cranberry products if they like, but they wouldn’t recommend them as a way to prevent UTIs — especially among older adults on a fixed income. Supplements vary wildly in prices.

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Women instead would be much better off staying hydrated. Topical estrogen therapy has also been shown to have some benefit for women who are post-menopausal.