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Cranberries and cranberry juice have a long-lasting reputation to cure and prevent urinary tract infections. It may be tempting to try many different home remedies for urinary tract infection, such as this one, since the pain can be almost unbearable. But are these claims true? This article will examine the fact and fiction about cranberry products.

First of all, if you are suffering from a urinary tract infection right now, do not use any cranberry products! Cranberry juice is widely rumored to cure UTI’s, but this is not true. In fact, just the opposite is. Cranberries are highly acidic, and the E. coli bacteria, which are the culprit in over 90% of all UTI’s, thrive in acidic environments unlike most other bacteria.

Thus, by consuming more cranberry products while you have a UTI, you are actually allowing the bacteria to reproduce even faster! In addition, most brands of cranberry juice contain massive amounts of sugar, which can cause other health issues. Plus many people, myself included, do not like the taste of cranberry juice, even with so much sugar added in. I’ve never had unsweetened cranberry juice, and I can only imagine how bitter it must taste.

Similarly, you should avoid other acidic drinks, such as Coke products. My advice is to stick to water only, as it’s neutral in pH and will help flush the bacteria out of your system.
However, even though cranberry products cannot cure UTI’s, they do help preventing urinary tract infections, so feel free to use them when you don’t have an active infection. They are not guaranteed to prevent all UTI’s, however. Most studies report that it decreased recurrences for most participants, but did not completely eliminated them. So it’s still important to exercise other prevention methods in conjunction, including but not limited to drinking plenty of fluids and not holding urine.

For more information about home remedies for urinary tract infection, please click here.