Chronic urinary tract infections are common. However, we now know that diet has a significant impact on susceptibility to urinary tract infections. Therefore, if you eat right, your risk of cystitis decreases.

Vegan diet can fight urinary tract infections

Urinary tract infections can go away on their own. However, they can also develop into systemic inflammation (sepsis), so action should be taken at the first signs. Prevention is even better – for example, with a suitable diet (such as a vegan diet).

The higher the proportion of plants in your diet, the less susceptible you are to bacterial infections such as urinary tract infections. Therefore, many things can be controlled through your diet. The composition of your intestinal flora, for example, and thus the strength of your immune system—a connection that is still far too often ignored.

The pH value of urine can also be influenced by daily diet – and depending on the pH value, the environment in the urinary tract changes. This environment, in turn, determines whether bacteria feel comfortable in the urinary tract or not.

A study from Washington University in St. Louis addressed precisely these connections. It was published in June 2015 in the journal The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The researchers explain that urinary tract infections are often caused by certain bacteria from the coliform family (Escherichia coli, abbreviated: E. coli) (1). These bacteria attach to the walls of the bladder and urinary tract, multiply, and lead to the typical symptoms of cystitis, such as urinary urgency, pain, burning during urination, fever, etc.

Immune system is less active at acidic pH

For this purpose, the researchers cultivated said coli bacteria in urine samples from healthy study participants and observed how well or poorly the bacteria could survive and multiply.

There were samples in which there was hardly any bacterial growth, and there were samples in which the bacteria grew very well. What was the difference?

It was found that those urine samples that performed well against the bacteria contained larger amounts of a specific immunologically active protein known for its antibacterial effect. In contrast, the remaining samples contained hardly any active immune proteins, making it easy for the bacteria to thrive.

The immune protein is called siderocalin. It is produced in the body whenever an infection is underway. Siderocalin interferes with the iron supply to the bacteria, so that they essentially die from iron deficiency or can no longer reproduce.

But why is it that some people can produce a lot of siderocalin and others cannot?

It is not due to age or gender, according to the researchers from St. Louis.

“Only one factor differed between the two groups: the pH of the urine. Of all the values ​​and conditions examined, it was only the urine pH that showed clear differences.”

People with high siderocalin levels in their urine had a less acidic pH than people with low siderocalin levels.

“This is astonishing,” says Professor Henderson, since conventional medicine still believes that an acidic pH in urine is always better for bacterial control. Henderson’s study, however, showed the exact opposite:

Those urine samples that had a nearly neutral pH showed much higher siderocalin activity and were able to inhibit bacterial growth much better than the samples with acidic pH.

To prove that it was really the pH value that influenced bacterial growth, they repeatedly changed the pH value in the urine samples and were able to see: If you acidified the urine, bacterial growth increased. If you increased the pH value in the urine, it decreased.

Vegan diet ensures healthy pH values

“Doctors have wonderful and simple ways to raise the pH of urine,” says Henderson. For example, with antacids, acid-binding medications, which many people also take for heartburn. However, this is obviously not a permanent solution, as antacids have adverse side effects, can irritate the stomach, complicate digestion, and lead to nutrient deficiencies.

However, the urine pH can also be raised in a very healthy way, making it less acidic – namely through diet. Some of the metabolic waste products (toxins) from food accumulate in the urine. The composition of these toxins influences the pH and depends largely on the type of food.

The more animal products, sweets, and white flour products a person consumes, the more acidic their urine becomes. However, an alkaline diet, primarily vegan, consisting of vegetables, salads, and sprouts, can raise the pH level. At the same time, the risk of urinary tract infections decreases. If you are not sure where to start try our Alkaline Balance: A food-based approach

Vegetarians have a lower risk of urinary tract infections

A 2020 study confirms that a plant-based diet reduces the risk of intestinal diseases. Taiwanese researchers followed around 9,700 Buddhists over nine years.

Using a questionnaire, the researchers asked how frequently certain foods were consumed. Approximately one-third of the volunteers reported being vegetarian. Individuals who had ever had a urinary tract infection were excluded from the study.

Overall, the vegetarian diet was associated with a 16% lower risk of urinary tract disease (2).

Vegetarians had lower numbers of E. coli bacteria in their gut than non-vegetarians. Vegetarians also suffered less frequently from hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia, all factors that predispose to urinary tract infections.

Superfoods help fight bacteria

The scientists at Washington University also discovered that diet also determines whether or not specific tiny catechol compounds are present in the urine. Conveniently, these substances also helped curb bacterial growth. The more catechol compounds present in the urine samples, the more successful the fight against the unwanted bacteria.

But where do the catechol compounds come from? They are apparently formed during the breakdown of polyphenols, those highly antioxidant secondary plant substances that have so many beneficial effects that foods with particularly high polyphenol content are called superfoods.

“Our study shows that the body’s immune system can apparently use plant substances to fight harmful bacteria,”

concludes Professor Henderson.

“We identified a whole list of active substances. Some come directly from food, but others are also produced by the intestinal flora.”

Healthy intestinal flora prevents urinary tract infections

The latter fact, that metabolic waste products of intestinal bacteria appear in the urinary tract and exert antibacterial effects there, demonstrates the enormous influence of the intestinal flora on the entire organism. Thus, the intestinal flora does not – as many still believe – act exclusively in the intestine, but throughout the entire body.

Therefore, intestinal cleansing and the development of intestinal flora in combination with the right diet are extremely helpful and effective measures to combat chronic urinary tract infections.

Why cranberries don’t always work

Polyphenols are also found in cranberries, which are often recommended for the prevention and treatment of urinary tract infections. However, one often reads that cranberries don’t always work.

Professor Henderson explains that cranberries would probably be much more effective if the urine were less acidic and the intestinal flora were correspondingly healthy. Because, as is so often the case, no single factor works on its own. Quite the opposite.

Garlic also has antibacterial properties and has been shown in laboratory studies to be helpful against the bacteria that commonly cause urinary tract infections.

Vegan diet protects against urinary tract infections

The immune system is stronger and more efficient the greater the number of participants involved, which in the case of urinary tract infections always includes the following three components:

1. Only very slightly acidic to neutral urine pH
2. High polyphenol levels
3. Healthy intestinal flora

All three ensure that the organism can successfully and sustainably fight harmful bacteria and remain healthy in the long term. Antibiotics are then often no longer necessary.

All three goals (healthy pH, high polyphenol levels, healthy gut flora) can best be achieved with a plant-based, predominantly vegan diet. The result: Infections such as chronic urinary tract infections become significantly less frequent and eventually disappear completely.

The matter can be accelerated by the following measures:

1. A deacidification program can quickly raise the pH of urine: Intensive deacidification program
2. Create an Alkaline Balance: A food-based approach
3. Superfoods provide high levels of polyphenols
4. A rehabilitation of the intestinal flora ensures the settlement of the right intestinal bacteria: Rehabilitation of the intestinal flora
5. Use vegan recipes from our free database

D-Mannose can also be used temporarily – a natural sugar that is not metabolized in the body, enters the bladder unchanged, and binds to the unwanted bacteria, allowing them to be excreted in the urine.