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Food and Drink Abstinence from Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary tract infection  (UTI) is a disease that is quite common in the world, especially among women. Because the disease is caused by a bacterial infection, the main treatment that must be followed is taking antibiotics according to the rules given by the doctor.

However, there are actually other things that you also need to do to speed up recovery from urinary tract infections, one of which is to obey not to consume challenged foods and beverages.

Food and drink abstinence from urinary tract infections



As is well known, the cause of urinary tract infection is unhealthy daily habits, such as often holding back pee or not being painstaking in keeping the pubic area clean.

However, it turns out that there are various foods and drinks that can trigger or worsen your condition when you have an infection. So, what foods and drinks are taboo for people with urinary tract infections?

1. Coffee, tea, and carbonated drinks

Some of you may be used to drinking coffee and tea before starting activities. Many also enjoy carbonated drinks. Although refreshing, these drinks are included in the taboo for people with urinary tract infections.

The reason is, these three drinks contain mostly caffeine. Consumption of caffeine can relax the muscles in the pelvis and urethra, which will worsen UTI symptoms that you are experiencing.

Caffeine is also a diuretic, which means that it will encourage an urge to urinate frequently. If you consume it at night, it has an impact on your sleeping hours which are disturbed by having to go back and forth to the bathroom.

In addition, soft drinks contain lots of sugar which can trigger bacterial growth. This is why soft drinks should be avoided when you have a urinary tract infection. If you have recurring UTIs, you may also need to reduce your overall daily sugar intake.

2. Spicy food

For some people, food with a spicy taste will be more appetizing. Unfortunately, those of you who are sick with a UTI is not advised to eat spicy food. Spicy food will provide a hot sensation in your body.

If it's too hot, your bladder can react. It can irritate the lining of the bladder causing pain. Of course, this worsens your symptoms. Not only that, but spicy food can also cause heat and pain in the stomach.

So that the pain does not get worse, you must stop adding chili sauce to your food portions for a while until your body condition improves.

3. Artificial sugar and sweeteners

As previously explained, foods high in sugar should not be consumed by patients with urinary tract infections. Sugar can act as a stimulant on the bladder leading to increased urgency and how often you feel like urinating.

You may think replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners is a safe alternative. In fact, those of you who also have interstitial cystitis and chronic pain in the bladder should still be careful.

A study found that artificial sweeteners can worsen symptoms and irritate the bladder.

4. Alcohol

Alcoholic drinks are also diuretic because they promote urine production and increase its volume. Alcohol worsens the symptoms of frequent urination and can irritate the bladder and make the urine more concentrated.

This occurs because alcohol consumption inhibits vasopressin arginine or an antidiuretic hormone or ADH. ADH functions to conserve water as a reserve in the body by reducing its disposal into the urine.

Without ADH, the kidneys cannot easily reabsorb water. ADH hormone deficiency is what will make you urinate more often.

Drink enough water to reduce UTI symptoms

In addition to all restrictions on food and drinks for patients with urinary tract infections above, you can still consume other foods and drinks by of course following a balanced diet.

One of the most recommended is to meet fluid needs by drinking mineral water. Actually, the need for mineral water for each person can vary depending on body weight.

However, what is usually recommended is as much as eight glasses or the equivalent of two liters of water. Also make sure you don't drink too much water, as this can encourage the urge to urinate more frequently.

Drinking water is believed to help flush the urinary tract and remove the bacteria in it. In this way, the chance of bacteria to stick to the urinary wall and multiply will be reduced. Consumption of water will also balance the pH of urine.

In addition, you can also try drinking cranberry fruit juice to relieve symptoms of urinary tract infections. Cranberry juice will help stop the growth and reproduction of bacteria in the bladder with tannins. Tannins are compounds in plants that taste bitter or bitter.

However, there are things that must be considered before consuming processed cranberries. You who have arthritis (heartburn), heartburn, irritable bowel syndrome, or Hiatal hernias may not be encouraged to drink cranberry juice because it will actually worsen the symptoms.

In addition, consumption of cranberry juice should not be done if you are taking warfarin because it can interfere with how it works.

You also need to discuss with your doctor about using cranberry juice as an alternative treatment for infections if you have diabetes. Since cranberry juice contains sugar in it, make sure that consumption will not have a bad impact on the body.