Bladder Articles

What is a UTI?

Urinary tract infections are caused by bad bacteria in your bladder, urethra or kidneys. Most commonly caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) from poo, the infections can cause painful symptoms like burning whilst weeing and even kidney damage. 

Women are more likely to suffer from UTIs as they have a shorter urethra than men. This means bad bacteria have a shorter distance to travel to get to the urinary tract. 

What does the new research show?

The researchers studied a total of 31 women over the course of a year. Half of the participants lived with recurring UTIs before the study and the others experienced very few or none. Throughout the study 24 UTIs occurred, all in the women with previous, recurrent infections. 

Over the course of the 12 months, researchers tested the wee and poo of all of the participants. Interestingly, they found that all the women had ‘enough’ E. coli in their intestines, and even bladder, to cause a UTI. Begging the question, why did only half the women get infections? 

Well, it was all down to their gut microbiome. The participants who experienced UTIs didn’t have all the healthy gut bacteria they needed to fight off infections. Interestingly, the women were all lacking in a specific bacteria that produce a fatty acid with anti-inflammatory effects. 

What do antibiotics have to do with it?

If you’ve ever had a UTI, your doctor has probably prescribed you antibiotics. For people with ‘one off’ infections, the tablets tend to work a treat but if you have recurrent UTIs antibiotics could be doing more harm than good.

Scientists have proven that although antibiotics eliminate the infection-causing bacteria from the bladder, they do not remove them from the intestine. This means that if you don’t have a healthy gut microbiome that’s good at fighting the infection, it’s more likely to stick around and multiply. 

On top of this, antibiotics aren’t good for the helpful and healthy bacteria in your gut either. Meaning they disrupt the microbiome that could be helping you fight the infection naturally. 

So, if you live with ongoing and recurrent UTIs, it might be helpful to look at your gut health. Here are four handy tips for enhancing your gut microbiome…

1. Eat your leafy greens: Vegetables like leeks, broccoli and spinach are packed full of fibre. Although your body isn’t great at digesting these on its own, the good bacteria in your gut consume all of the good stuff. 
2. Stock up on prebiotics: Prebiotics are vital for your gut and ensure that your microbiome has enough energy to do its job properly. Some good prebiotic-packed foods are grains, onions, nuts, bananas, beans and lentils. 
3. Stick to a good routine: Let's face it, good sleep means good health and your gut microbiome agrees. Making sure you get enough sleep at a normal time is really important for maintaining good bacteria and expelling the bad stuff. 
4. Try fermented foods: Kombucha, kefir, kimchi and pickles are all ingredients your gut loves. They are jam-packed with probiotics that your internal bacteria cultures love. Yes, yoghurt is great too, but it is more likely to be full of sugar, so it might be good to try something new!