Dietary factors affecting susceptibility to urinary tract infection

Abstract

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is usually an ascending infection caused by bacteria derived from stools. Since the bacterial composition of stools is dependent on the diet, it is likely that the risk of UTI will change with changes in the diet. Most data describing diet as a risk factor for UTI come from epidemiological and interventional trials. It has been shown in a case-control setting that frequent consumption of fresh berry or fruit juices and fermented milk products containing probiotic bacteria decreases the risk for UTI recurrence in women. Several interventional trials have found Vaccinium berry products to provide protection from UTI recurrence. Probiotics have not been able to prevent UTI in interventional trials. However, the lack of an effect may be related to too low a dose or to the use of non-optimal products in these trials. Limited data are available on the effects of nutrition on UTI in children. However, there is no reason to expect that children would be different from adults in this respect. In this review, we discuss the dietary factors affecting the susceptibility to UTI.

Risk Factors for Sporadic Shiga Toxin–producingEscherichia coliInfections in Children, Argentina1

“…A varied diet may increase resistance to disease by providing bowel fl ora that help to protect against colonization with pathogens by providing compounds that block bacterial adhesions, as has been postulated for urinary tract infections (36), or by some other mechanism (37).…”

Intergenerational knowledge transmission from aboriginal female elders to youth regarding preventative and self-care knowledge of urinary tract infections in Prince George, BC.

“…In terms o f the literature present, cranberry juice was found to be effective in preventing UTIs in most studies (Jepson & Craig, 2008;Lowe & Fagelman, 2001;Raz et al, 2004;Stothers, 2002). Diet was found to have been slightly effective in preventing UTIs (Kontiokari et al, 2004), but hygiene was not found to be a significant preventative measure to protect against UTIs (Foxman & Chi, 1990;Hooton, 2001). The difference between the participants' perceptions and the literature could be due to the small sample size of the research study.…”

“…Numerous studies have researched risk factors for acquiring UTIs in these young women. Sexual activity was one of the most important risk factors for infection and recurrence in healthy women (Foster, 2008;Kontiokari, Nuutinen, & Uhari, 2004;Scholes et al, 2000). Nicolle, Harding, Preiksaitis, and Ronald (1982) found that seventy-five percent o f the episodes o f UTIs in women would occur within 24 hours of sexual intercourse and that the more intercourse episodes within a given interval, the greater the likelihood that infection would result.…”

“…Furthermore, the risk would increase to 9 times greater if she had sexual intercourse daily for the past week. Other risk factors include the type o f contraception used and a previous history of UTIs (Foster, 2008;Hooton et al, 1996;Kontiokari et al, 2004;Nicolle et al, 1982). Scholes et al (2000) found that a maternal history of UTIs and the early age o f a woman's first UTI contributed to a two to four times greater chance of acquiring a recurrent UTI.…”

“…Kontiokari et al (2004) researched dietary factors affecting susceptibility to UTIs, specifically berries and fruit, probiotics, and other dietary interventions. They found that "frequent consumption of fresh berry or fruit juices and fermented milk products containing probiotic bacteria decreases the risk for UTI recurrence in women" (Kontiokari et al, 2004, p. 378).…”