D-Mannose: The best treatment for UTIs

There is an incredibly effective and safe home remedy for UTIs that you probably don't know about. It is a far better treatment than antibiotics.

The problem with taking antibiotics for urinary tract infections is that the good bacteria are killed along with the bad, which is why it is common to develop repeated UTIs in the following months after antibiotics, as well as secondary yeast infections and digestive problems. Your immune system relies on good bacteria, and without it the body is vulnerable to repeated infection.

You’ve probably heard that drinking cranberry juice can be helpful in supporting a healthy urinary tract. But you have to drink a lot of it to get the benefits, and cranberry juice is loaded with fructose.

The active ingredient in cranberry juice has been identified and isolated—and that is D-mannose.

D-mannose is a naturally occurring sugar that can be derived from berries, peaches, apples, and some other plants. Pure D-mannose is amazingly 10-50 times stronger than cranberry, non-toxic and completely safe, with NO adverse effects. Why drink sugary cranberry juice if you can get the active ingredient instead, with none of the damaging metabolic consequences?

D-mannose can help cure more than 90 percent of all UTIs within 1 to 2 days! 

You can find D-mannose at any health food store - like Whole Foods, Sprouts, or Vitamin Cottage.

How does it work? The answer lies in how bacteria adhere to the inside of your bladder.

More than 90 percent of all UTIs are caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli), which is normally found in your intestinal tract.

It should be noted that this is NOT the same E. coli associated with killer outbreaks in unsanitary food processing plants—that is a mutant variety, probably created by antibiotic overuse in our country. This E. coli is typically a normal part of your gut flora and typically is accidentally transferred to the bladder through lapses in optimal hygiene. Problems only arise when this ordinary bacterium is present in high numbers in places where it shouldn’t be—like your urinary system.

When normal E. coli gets into your urinary tract and multiplies, you experience the usual signs and symptoms of a UTI:

• Burning with urination
• Frequent urges to urinate
• Lower abdominal pain or aching
• Blood in your urine (sometimes, but not always)
• Cloudy urine

You might be wondering, if the bacteria are in my urine, why doesn’t my body simply flush them out when I urinate?

As it turns out, the cell walls of each E. coli are covered with tiny fingerlike projections called fimbria allowing them to “stick” to the inner walls of your bladder and even work their way upward to your ureter and kidneys. Because they cling to your urinary organs, they can’t simply be washed out. These little fingerlike projections are made of an amino acid-sugar complex, a glycoprotein called lectin, which makes them sticky.

Lectin on the bacteria’s fimbria binds to mannose, which is produced by your cells and covers the internal lining of your urinary organs. This mannose allows the bacteria to adhere to you—like Velcro. When you take D-mannose, the e-coli detach themselves from your epithelial cells and start attaching to all the other D-mannose swimming around them. Then, you can simply urinate them out.

Occasionally, a kidney infection can develop from a UTI. If you suspect you have a kidney infection—especially if you have a fever—it might be necessary to see a physician and employ an antibiotic so the infection does not spread to your kidney and cause some very serious problems.

If you do use an antibiotic, it is important to take a high quality, high potency probiotic to replace the beneficial bacteria killed by the antibiotic. Try to take the probiotic as far from the antibiotic dose as possible. For example, if you take your antibiotic at 8am and 8pm, take your probiotic at 2pm to minimize the effects from the antibiotic.

Steps to Promoting a Healthy Urinary Tract

• Drink plenty of pure, filtered water every day
• Urinate when you feel the need; don't resist the urge to go
• Wipe from front to back to prevent bacteria from entering your urethra
• Take showers instead of tub baths; avoid hot tubs/Jacuzzis
• Avoid using feminine hygiene sprays, which may irritate your urethra
• In addition, a healthy diet is key in supporting your urinary tract.
• Research shows that frequent consumption of products containing probiotic bacteria can promote good urinary tract health—fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables are great for your overall health—including your urinary system.