D-mannose! Can D-mannose prevent urinary tract infections? Yes!
Urinary Tract Infections ….UGH! Some of us ladies get UTI’s and some of us ladies get Recurrent UTI’s. Regardless no one wants a UTI, at least no one that I’ve ever met. For ladies that get recurrent UTI’s, you may get to the point where your provider talks about prophylactic antibiotics. Antibiotics everyday double ugh. Well hang on a minute there are some great alternatives to antibioitics.
What is D-mannose?
My favorite medication to prevent and sometimes even treat UTI’s is not even a medication. It’s a sugar. Yes, I may have referred to sugar as Evil and foreboding of the death and diabetic mutation of the entire human race in the past, but this is a good sugar.
D-mannose for urinary tract infections! How does this work?
A bacteria called E. Coli causes most UTI’s. . Turns out, E coli loves d-mannose. D-mannose is a sugar found in fruits and produced in our body through the oxidation of mannitol. D-mannose passes through our digestive tract unchanged which means no calories and no increase in blood sugar if you’ve got diabetes. As D-mannose passes through the bladder E. coli detaches from the bladder lining, jumps onto the D-mannose and is excreted out in the urine.
I think this is pretty cool in theory. In practice, it works for a lot of my patients too! They have said good-bye to daily prophylactic antibiotics. Instead patients take 2g of D-mannose daily or in some cases when their UTI trigger pops up and they are able to significantly reduce antibiotic side effects, medication interactions and UTI’s.
What Does the Research Show on D-mannose for UTI’s?
Studies and meta-analyses show D-mannose is effective for urinary tract infections. Some studies show it to be slightly less effective than nitrofurantoin but with fewer side effects, other studies show it to be about as effective.
Other Supplements to Treat Urinary Tract Infections
Most commonly, good old fashioned cranberry is another option. Put down the cosmo. Not that kinda cranberry juice –we think. A number of studies have looked at all different cranberry products. They were inconclusive. It appears some products may offer some benefit. But when we add all the different cranberry products –juice and powders and extracts, we don’t see much benefit. However, some studies have shown some benefits so….the jury is still out.
In addition to cranberry, probiotics have been studied, but we have not yet seen significant benefit –but we may need more studies to prove or disprove this.
Finally, Chinese herbal medicines have been shown to be effective, but studies have been too small to be considered significant.
So for now…pass the sugar!
