Cranberry with Vitamin C | 100 Capsules | NOW Foods

Cranberry with Vitamin C by NOW Foods

Do you like the idea of cranberry, but not the tart taste or the sugar in cranberry juice? Then these capsules from NOW Foods are a practical option. Two capsules together provide 1.4 grams of dried cranberry fruit plus 20mg of vitamin C. No extract with an unclear ratio, but the whole fruit in powder form, in a plant-based capsule.

What makes cranberry so special

Cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon, also known as the large cranberry in Dutch) grows in marshy areas in North America. The red berries are full of plant compounds from the group of polyphenols. The best known of these are proanthocyanidins, abbreviated as PACs. The difference with other berries lies in the form of those PACs. Cranberry contains mainly the so-called A-type, with an extra chemical bond between the building blocks. Grapes and cocoa, on the other hand, contain mainly the B-type. What many people do not know: cranberries are so sour that almost no one eats them raw. Almost everything you find in the store is sweetened.

From bog berry to capsule

Cranberries grow on low, creeping bushes in sandy peat soils, especially in the American states of Wisconsin and Massachusetts and in Canada. The harvest is quite a sight. Farmers flood the fields in the fall, shake the bushes loose, and then the berries float to the surface. This is possible because each berry has small air pockets. After that, they are scooped up, washed, and dried. For this product, NOW grinds the dried fruit into a fine powder. By the way, the indigenous peoples of North America used cranberry centuries before the Europeans arrived, among other things in pemmican, a shelf-stable mix of dried meat, fat, and berries.

Cranberry in a capsule or as juice

Many people wonder if a capsule is not simply the same as a glass of cranberry juice. Not entirely. Commercial juice often contains only 25 to 30 percent cranberry, supplemented with water, other fruit juices, and quite a bit of sugar to mask the tart taste. With these capsules, you get the dried fruit without those additives. And you know exactly how much you are getting: 700mg of cranberry per capsule. In practice, this means a dosage of two capsules, once or twice a day, preferably with a meal.

Why vitamin C is included

NOW has added 20mg of vitamin C per serving, which is good for 25 percent of the reference intake. Vitamin C contributes to the normal functioning of the immune system. In addition, vitamin C contributes to the protection of cells against oxidative stress. And good to know: vitamin C increases iron absorption. Vitamin C also contributes to the reduction of tiredness and fatigue. In short: the cranberry provides the plant compounds, the vitamin C completes the picture.

These capsules contain only cellulose, plant-based stearic acid, and silicon dioxide. Because it is real fruit powder, the color of the capsule contents may vary slightly per batch. This is normal for a natural product and says nothing about the quality of the cranberry.