Here’s an all-natural, highly effective, cure for something that can spoil any girl’s day—a bladder infection, aka urinary tract infection or UTI. Although men get them, women get them ten times more often. Half of all women will have a UTI at some point during their life; what’s worse, about 30-40% recur within 6 months. Fortunately, if your infection is caused by E. coli—as 90% of bladder infections are—you can say “goodbye UTI” with a supplement called d-mannose.

Cranberry juice has been a folk remedy for UTIs for a very long time. Recently, it was discovered that d-mannose is the active component in cranberry juice that works against E. coli infections.

E. coli bacteria normally inhabit the bowel, where they play a beneficial role, aiding digestion and even producing vitamins. But if they’re able to migrate up into the bladder, they cause problems—irritation and pain. Further, a 2003 study published in the journal Science found that E. coli burrow into the bladder lining and form “fort-like pods” that protect a whole colony of bacteria from both the body’s natural defenses and antibiotics. Recurrent infections may be caused by these pods bursting periodically to release new battalions of E. coli into the bladder.

Unlike antibiotics, which kill E. coli but do all kinds of collateral damage to harmless and beneficial bacteria, d-mannose simply prevents E. coli from attaching to the urinary tract lining. As a result, they are easily washed out with the passage of urine and don’t get a chance to form colonies in your bladder lining.

D-mannose is a totally natural substance, safe enough to give to children or to take while pregnant. However you can find d-mannose in various degrees of purity. Purity is especially important to us at Beyond Health because we know that every impurity taxes the body and can compromise the effectiveness of the ingredients you’re paying for. We’ve always found that paying a little more for purity is well worth it for both the effectiveness of the product and long-term safety. 

If symptoms have not improved within 24 hours, something other than E. coli is causing your UTI, and you should consult a healthcare practitioner.