Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, are notorious for causing a burning sensation when you pee. Most people want to knock that out and get rid of it ASAP. “If you think you have a UTI, you really should check with your doctor,” says Dr. Katie Propst, MD, staff physician in urogynecology and pelvic reconstructive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic. Some people, especially younger women with healthy immune systems, may be able to clear up an infection on its own, Dr. Propst explains. But a urinary tract infection could worsen and possibly lead to a kidney infection, which you definitely want to avoid. Left untreated, a kidney infection can cause permanent damage to your kidneys or get into your bloodstream and cause a serious infection. “For women who have a culture-proven UTI, the best way that we treat that is with an antibiotic,” says Dr. Propst. But what about all those commonly recommended home remedies for UTIs? Could they help? Let’s take a closer look.
UTI home remedies
There are a lot of options on the market that you might be tempted to try in search of a treatment for a UTI. But when it come sto home remedies, you may have more luck on the prevention front than on the treatment end.
Cranberry
Cranberry seems to be more effective for prevention than treatment when it comes to UTIs. A report titled “Recurrent Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections in Women: AUA/CUA/SUFU Guideline” that was published in the journal Urology in 2019 suggests that proanthocyanidins (PACs) in cranberries seem to prevent the adhesion of bacteria to the urothelium. That’s a fancy way of saying that cranberries contain a substance that inhibits bacteria from sticking the lining of your bladder, where they might cause an infection. But if your best friend tells you to guzzle some cranberry juice, hold off. For one thing, you’d need to drink a whole lot of it, and since that would be a lot of extra sugar, you’d want to drink unsweetened cranberry juice, which might be a little intense, especially in large quantities. So, you might be better off with cranberry extract, via tablets. But remember, think prevention.“We don’t recommend cranberry products as a treatment for urinary tract infections,” says Dr. Propst. “What I tell patients is that if a woman wants to use a cranberry supplement to prevent UTIs, I won’t tell them not to, but I do tell them that I don’t know if it’s going to work or not. And I don’t recommend it for treatment.”
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin is a powerful antioxidant, for one, and a systematic review of 29 clinical trials in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition even found that vitamin C supplements can help lower your blood pressure. There’s not a lot of evidence supporting its use for UTIs, but it’s not a bad idea for prevention purposes, notes Christina Hicks Hegan, MS, APRN, WHNP-BC, a director-at-large for the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA) and a women’s health nurse practitioner in the Division of Female Pelvic Medicine & Reconstructive Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center. “The theory behind that one is that we hope it acidifies the urine so the bacteria can’t grow,” says Hegan.
Probiotics
Some suggest that loading up on the probiotics might ward off a UTI, but Hegan is skeptical. “There’s no evidence to support it,” she says. Dr. Propst agrees. There’s really not any evidence to suggest that taking probiotics would hurt you, “but the evidence that they’re helping is really limited,” she says. “And they can be cost-prohibitive.” A 2015 Cochrane review of nine studies involving probiotic therapy for UTI didn’t find any significant benefit for probiotics, either.
D-mannose
D-mannose is a type of sugar related to glucose. It’s in a number of different fruits, but it’s also available in supplement form, which some people take in the hopes of preventing or knocking out a UTI. The idea is that the bacteria might cling to the d-mannose and then flow out of the body instead of adhering to the bladder cells, says Dr. Propst. “But again, there really isn’t any evidence for that,” she says. The authors of the 2019 guidelines in the journal Urology were skeptical about D-mannose for prevention purposes, too.“[T]he Panel was unable to find sufficient evidence to support their efficacy as prophylactic agents. Such other agents include lactobacillus, D-mannose, methenamine, herbs/supplements, intravesical hyaluronic acid/chondroitin, biofeedback, and immunoactive therapy,” they wrote.
Drinking more fluids
Many experts suggest that boosting your fluid intake may help by diluting your urine and flushing out some of the bacteria. “I think staying hydrated is important but to not necessarily go overboard with that,” says Dr. Propst. And if you try drinking extra fluids, but you’re still feeling the frequent urge to pee or that burning sensation, call your healthcare provider and ask if you can leave a sample to get cultured, Hegan suggests. You may still need an antibiotic, or it might be something other than a urinary tract infection that may need to be treated.
Better hygiene
Here are a few hygiene tips that might help:
Don’t take leftover medicine
Dr. Propst maintains that she typically does not recommend home remedies for the treatment of UTIs. But she also cautions you should also avoid digging around in your medicine cabinet and taking any old leftover antibiotics that you might have stashed there.“Those antibiotics may not work at all for UTIs,” she says. “They may not even get to the bladder." Plus, you run the risk of contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The bacteria you’re trying to kill off might survive the mismatched or old antibiotic and survive, but then it may be harder to find another antibiotic that can get rid of it. Next up, can a UTI Cause lower back pain?
Sources
“Effects of vitamin C supplementation on blood pressure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.Christina Hicks Hegan, MS, APRN, director-at-large for the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA)“Kidney infection (pyelonephritis).” Cleveland Clinic.“Kidney infection.” Mayo Clinic.“Probiotics for preventing urinary tract infections in adults and children.” Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Dr. Katie Propst, MD, staff physician in urogynecology and pelvic reconstructive surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.“Recurrent Uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections in Women: AUA/CUA/SUFU Guideline.” Urology. “Urinary traction infections.” Cleveland Clinic.“Use of Spermicide-Coated Condoms and Other Risk Factors for Urinary Tract Infection Caused by Staphylococcus saprophyticus.” JAMA Internal Medicine.
