Prevent and Treat Urinary Tract Infections with D-Mannose
UTIs are responsible for nearly 10 million doctor visits each year.
One in five women will have at least one UTI in her lifetime.
UTIs also may be called cystitis or a bladder infection.
Do you suffer from frequent bladder or urinary tract infections? It can throw a wrench in your day and make it difficult for you to work or be around other people. They can be really painful and difficult to get rid of. Are you tired of taking antibiotics over and over again that don’t stop these infections from reoccurring? Well, we have a natural solution to share with you.
What is a UTI or urinary tract infection?
A urinary tract infection (UTI), also called a bladder infection or cystitis, is what happens when bacteria gets into the urinary tract, the bladder, and multiply. About 80 to 90% of UTIs are caused by a type of bacteria called E. coli. These bacteria normally live in your intestines, but they sometimes get into the urinary tract. Bladder infections are much more common in women than men.
Symptoms of a UTI
Some people don’t have any symptoms, however most get at least one or more of the following:
- Strong, persistent urge to urinate
- Burning sensation when urinating
- Painful urination
- Nausea and vomiting
- Passing frequent, small amounts of urine
- Urine that appears cloudy, red, bright pink or bloody
- Strong smelling urine
- Pelvic pain in women
- Abdominal pains
Conventional Solution
Conventional doctors treat UTIs with a course of antibiotics or antifungal drugs, which can actually make the problem worse. Antibiotics kill not only the bad bacteria, but also the good bacteria that perform countless valuable natural functions in your body. These drugs do not help restore the healthy bacteria that was once there, thus encouraging further infection. Then yeast can overgrow and cause problems such as a vaginal yeast infection. There is a safe, effective and natural alterative to antibiotics for women with UTIs – D-mannose.
Natural Solution: D-Mannose
D-mannose is a naturally occurring simple sugar, closely related to glucose, that occurs in fruits. It is used to promote and support optimal urinary tract health, as well as prevent and treat UTIs. It nourishes the healthy flora that make up the membrane of the urinary tract and helps keep it in balance. Aside from urinary tract health, D-mannose also helps maintain the balance of good bacteria in your gut, supports your immune system, and promotes optimal digestive health. It can also be used to help fight kidney infections. D-mannose comes in a convenient powder – just add it to water drink up!
Research shows that D-mannose can be an effective aid in acute cystitis management and also successful in preventing UTIs. (1) Research also demonstrates that patients taking D-mannose powder had a significantly reduced occurrence of UTIs and that D-mannose can be useful for UTI prevention. (2)
D-mannose is very safe, even for long term use, although most women (or the very occasional man) with single episodes of bladder or urinary tract infection will only need it for a few days at most. Although D-mannose is a simple sugar, very little of it is metabolized. It doesn’t interfere with blood sugar regulation, even for diabetics. It creates no disruption or imbalance in normal body microflora. It’s safe even for pregnant women and very small children.
While cranberry juice and pineapple juice contain D-mannose, the amounts they contain are less than a half teaspoon of a dose of D-mannose powder, so these juices are much less effective. Plus, these juices also contain sugar.
How does D-Mannose work to prevent and treat UTIs?
E. coli bacteria has tiny fingerlike projections that stick to the inside walls of our bladder and urinary tract, so it can’t be flushed out through urination. Luckily, D-mannose sticks to E. Coli and it is eliminated through normal urination.
Why is using D-mannose better than using antibiotics?
When antibiotics are taken, they kill unwanted microorganisms or bad bacteria, but unfortunately they also kill friendly microorganisms or good bacteria. Long-term or repeated antibiotic use can lead to major disruptions in normal body microflora, negatively affecting your health, especially your immune system.
Research shows that the downsides of long-term antibiotic use are possible adverse reactions, costs and increasing bacterial resistance to antibiotics; therefore, alternative agents such as cranberry juice and probiotics have been extensively studied. One such agent is D-mannose, which is normally present in human metabolism and has an important role, especially in the glycosylation of certain proteins. The mechanism of action of D-mannose is the inhibition of bacterial adherence to urothelial cells (cells that line the urinary tract). (3)
Unlike antibiotics, D-mannose doesn’t kill the good or bad bacteria. D-mannose simply helps to relocate misplaced E.coli from inside of our urinary tracts to outside of our body to stop the infection.
Bioidentical Estrogen Replacement in Menopause Can Also Help Prevent UTIs
The risk of UTIs in women increases as estrogen levels decline in menopause. A lack of estrogen in the vagina and urinary tract that occurs in menopause can predispose a woman to getting UTIs, and this can be prevented or reversed by simply replacing the lost estrogen, preferably using topically applied estriol. Research demonstrated that estriol reduces recurrent urinary tract infections in postmenopausal women. (4)
A number of studies have confirmed estriol’s ability to maintain a healthful vaginal environment. For example, when oral estriol was combined with local application of L. acidophilus, postmenopausal women were able to completely restore the epithelial lining of their vagina and urinary tract to normal. Research concluded that treatment with estriol restores the normal premenopausal vaginal flora and mucosa and prevents urogenital infections and disorders in postmenopausal women. (5)
Are you suffering from menopause symptoms?
Are you suffering from symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, fatigue, low libido, difficulty sleeping, anxiety or depression? Take our symptom checker today to help to discover what could be the underlying cause.
Research:
1. D-Mannose: A Promising Support for Acute Urinary Tract Infections in Women. A Pilot Study
2. D-Mannose Powder for Prophylaxis of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Women: A Randomized Clinical Trial
3. Use of D-Mannose in Prophylaxis of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) in Women
4. Oestriol in the Prophylactic Treatment of Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Postmenopausal Women
5. Low Dose Oral Estriol Treatment in Elderly Women with Urogenital Infections
Sources:
Kidney.org
Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. – Stay Young & Sexy with Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement, D-Mannose for Bladder and Kidney Infections
