Surprising New Supplement for UTI’s
Urinary tract infections are ridiculously common. In fact, they are the most common outpatient infection in the US. According to recent research in the US, 50-60% of women will have at least one UTI in their life. UTI’s are becoming increasingly resistant to drugs. There’s natural help. But which natural help is the best natural help?
Recurrent UTI’s are a huge problem. After having a UTI, 27% of women will have one again in the next 6 months. About 20% of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have a UTI annually.
The other huge problem is that UTIs are becoming increasingly resistant to conventional antimicrobial treatments. Cranberry is one of the most effective treatments and one of the best known. But recent research is beginning to make a case for another natural supplement: pine bark extract.
Pine bark extract is a very rich source of procyanidin flavonoids that are powerful antioxidants.
A recent study tested 150mg a day of Pycnogenol, a standardized pine bark extract, on people with recurrent UTI’s. The two month study found a 50.1% decrease in the rate of recurrent infection versus only 9.93% in the control group. There were significantly more people in the Pycnogenol group who were infection free (Panminerva Med. 2021 Sep ;63(3):343-348). This study introduced pine bark extract as a supplement for UTI prevention. But which is better, pine bark extract or cranberry?
A new head-to-head study has put them to the test, and, surprisingly, pine bark extract won: maybe.
The small study included 64 people who struggle with recurrent UTI’s. They were given either 150mg of Pycnogenol, 400mg of cranberry extract or nothing for 2 months.
UTI’s decreased more in the pine bark group than in the cranberry group, suggesting that Pycnogenol may be the new natural champion for UTI’s.
However, though the study does demonstrate that pine bark works—everyone in the Pycnogenol group was infection free at the end of the study—it may not prove that pine bark is better than cranberry just yet. The reason is because the dose of cranberry may have been too small. For some reason, the researchers designed the study to test 400mg of cranberry extract. But the usual dose of cranberry extract for UTI’s is 400mg 2-3 times a day.
So, this small study adds to the emerging evidence that pine bark extract is a powerful supplement for UTI’s. But it’s too soon to give it cranberry’s crown.
Evid Based Complement Altern Med. June 23, 2021;2021:9976299
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For much more on preventing and treating urinary tract infections naturally, see our book The Family Naturopathic Encyclopedia.
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