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Obsessive desire to urinate, burning, pain in the abdomen … By dint of recurrence, cystitis can really spoil your life. To better prevent, what is the best alternative: antibiotics or cranberry?

“Four to 5 cystitis average per year, it makes settlement approximately one per quarter … it’s more than 10 years that it lasts, and then I saturate” admits xiaoyu49 on our forums for urinary problems. Like them, many women no longer know where to turn …

Faced with urinary tract infections, cranberry sees red

Cranberry or antibiotics, what woman has not experienced such discomfort characteristic of urinary tract infections? It is estimated that two women will be victims in their lifetime. This does not mean that we must trivialize the pain they create … and this, especially since they may have a strong tendency to recur.

Categorized as recurrent bladder (less than 4 times per year) and recurrent cystitis (more than 3 times per year). Depending on their frequency, the cystitis may actually impair quality of life. For these women, several measures can be beneficial:

• Style and dietary habits: Drinking enough (1.5 l of water per day), urinate every 3 hours a day, wear loose clothes, underwear cotton rather than nylon, reducing constipation problems promoting a diet rich in fiber
• Limiting the aggravating factors: constipation, excessive personal hygiene or neglected, use of spermicidal …

Beyond these measures, taking cranberry juice  is recommended for main meals. Its regular use provides good protection against bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Property recognized in 2004 by the French Agency for Food Safety (AFSSA) . In fact, the cranberries contain flavonoids, anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which are able to bind to certain bacteria Escherichia coli responsible for cystitis. These germs are then unable to adhere to cells of the bladder and causing infection. Without an anchor, they are naturally eliminated by natural means. But prevention, cranberries are also effective as antibiotics?

Antibiotic vs. cranberry deal with cystitis

Several studies have to say that cranberries reduce the frequency of cystitis in women 30 to 40 years but beyond that, there was no evidence so far that little red fruit retains its virtues. For more information, a team écossaise3 its effectiveness compared to the reference treatment with antibiotics in small doses preventive long term. A total of 137 women over 45 years, with at least 2 UTIs in the previous year, took over 6 months or 500 mg of cranberry extract, 100 mg tromethoprine antibiotic effective against bacteria involved these infections.

During the study, 39 women were victims of cystitis (25 in the cranberry group and 14 in another), with possible recurrence substantially similar (respectively 84.5 and 91 days). More women have abandoned antibiotic under study (11 against 6 in the cranberry group). In both groups, the bacteria involved were mainly E. coli, according to the authors; therefore antibiotics have a slight advantage in terms of effectiveness of cranberry extract, but have more side effects.

These results enable women victims of cystitis frequently to assess their physician’s interest to choose between these two alternatives preventive. It should also be noted that in addition to its nature and its cost, the cranberry has the advantage of reducing the risk of the emergence of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. Finally, taking cranberry does not disclose the side effects annoying or dangerous to the regular intake of an antibiotic, such as super infection intestinal or vaginal fungal (thrush) or the rare but deadly pseudo membranous colitis caused by a germ to growth favored by antibiotics, Clostridium difficult.

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