Everything You Know About Cranberry Juice And UTIs Was Just Proven Wrong. Here's A New Natural Alternative

Although previous research has suggested otherwise, a new study showed that taking two cranberry capsules a day for a year had no effect on the presence of UTI-causing bacteria or number of UTIs experienced by participants. 29 percent of the women who took a cranberry supplement had positive tests for UTI-causing bacteria compared to 29.1 percent among women who did not supplement, which strongly suggests that cranberry juice and cranberry supplements aren’t actually helpful when it comes to preventing recurrence of UTIs.

Each daily dose contained 72mg of active proanthocyanidin—the equivalent of 20 ounces of cranberry juice. Almost 200 women were included in this double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study and all results were statistically significant.

Thankfully, there’s a lesser-known but more effective alternative way to treat UTIs naturally. If you are someone who suffers from UTIs, new research suggests a promising new remedy for preventing and treating urinary tract infections.

D-Mannose is a naturally occurring monosaccharide (basically, a sugar) that helped alleviate symptoms and prevent future UTIs. It’s actually not that sweet, and simply looks like an extra fluffy protein powder. While the study was small, results showed that supplementing with D-Mannose significantly improved UTI symptoms, helped resolve infections, and improved patient quality of life. When D-Mannose was continued over a six month time period, only 4.5 percent of the women had recurrent infections, compared to 33.3 percent in the group who did not supplement with D-Mannose.