If you have been experiencing painful urination, pressure, constant urge to urinate, passing small amounts of urine when you go urinate, cloudy or foul-smelling urine or any other kind of UTI-related symptoms, it would be unwise for you to skip out on taking that very appealing and delicious looking red apple from your refrigerator and eating it.
Needless to say, you should always seek professional medical help as soon as you can if you are experiencing UTI symptoms, but fresh red apples and their refreshing, homemade juice (without any added sugar) can help you wherever you are in your UTI recovery process.
UTIs can thrive in an unhealthy body that has a weak and dysfunctional immune system.
Therefore, if you want something that will help alleviate your symptoms and treat your UTI as soon as possible besides professional medical help is to eat healthy foods and drinks that can strengthen your immune system, reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in your body and improve your urinary system’s health in general.
Such a great example of these healthy foods are apples, which are one of the healthiest kinds of food you can find in all diets because of their extremely powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and even immunoregulatory potential.
Eating apples will not cure you out of anything. Still, they can help you have some relief from your UTI symptoms and bladder irritation, and they can offer you great support in the treatment and management of UTI.
You can have a healthier urinary system and body that is more resistant to diseases and infections if you eat apples on regular basis.
Are apples good for people who have UTI?
Have you ever noticed that you have an improved mood, energy and overall health at periods of time where you have been eating those delicious red apples from your refrigerator at regular basis?
Well, it’s not only a psychological effect (although psychological effects can have a lot of biological causes at their root), but many recent and old studies can confirm the amazing health benefits that eating apples can bring to the body in general.
What is good for the body and the immune system is also good for our urinary system, and apples are extremely healthy and beneficial for our body, immune system and they can also have a lot of ways in which they can directly influence our urinary system in a positive manner.
UTIs can cause a lot of inflammation and oxidation in the urinary tract as bacteria can produce toxins that can damage the inner lining of the bladder and the other parts of the urinary tract.
So, the more our food contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds, the more protective it will be for our urinary system and entire body.
Apples contain a plethora of vitamins, minerals, polyphenolic (phytochemical) compounds and other nutrients that have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can protect our urinary system from damage caused by the UTI bacteria. These nutrients and compounds can also strengthen our immune system in the face of diseases and infections, like the UTI.
If you start incorporating more fresh apples into your diet, you will definitely notice great improvements in terms of preventing possible UTI attacks and in terms of treating already existing ones in a quicker and smoother fashion.
This study shows that drinking fresh apple juice and other kinds of fruit juice actually protected people From UTIs, especially women who were suffering from recurrent UTIs, and it was associated with reduced symptoms of UTI and irritation.
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) can have a higher chance of getting cured if UTI patients eat healthy fruits, like apples, not only because of the nutrients these fruits have with their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and immunomodulatory properties but also because apples can help restore a proper level of hydration in the body.
The UTI bacteria like it when they see an unhealthy and dehydrated or semi-dehydrated urinary tract that is being defended by a weak or dysfunctioning immune system.
On the other hand, they run away from a healthy and properly hydrated urinary system that is being guarded by strong immune defenses.
When you eat fresh apples or drink fresh apple juice on a regular basis, you will provide your urinary system and body with some key nutrients, necessary to keep it healthy, properly hydrated and free from inflammatory or oxidative damage.
Nutrients such as vitamin C, vitamin E, zinc, potassium, polyphenolic compounds, like quercetin, catechin, epicatechin, and proanthocyanidin, triterepenes and many others.
Even if you have an ongoing UTI, eating fresh apples can improve the hydration of your urinary system and reduce damage there as well from oxidation or inflammation, and all of these things can create a favorable environment for the elimination of bacteria from your urinary tract with zero repercussions.
UTIs can have a better chance of being treated or prevented if you have a stronger immune system and eating apples can give you with just that.
In addition, UTIs can have a better chance of being treated if you have a more properly hydrated body and urinary system, and apples can provide you with the necessary minerals and electrolytes and water content to do that too.
On the other hand, your urinary system and body can be more resistant or less susceptible to infections, like the UTI, if you provide it with some anti-inflammatory or antioxidant compounds on a regular basis, like the ones found in apples.
The UTI bacteria can produce toxins inside the urinary tract and they can also perform a lot of pathogenic activities that will increase inflammation and oxidative stress in the urinary system and that can end up damaging the urinary system in an irreversible way if we allow it to happen for more or longer than necessary.
Oxidative stress (oxidation) and inflammation can weaken our urinary system and our immune defenses against UTIs and other diseases, so the less we can have of these two processes in our urinary system and body the more likely we will be able to treat a UTI or prevent it from turning into something more dangerous, like a kidney infection.
Studies show that the people who eat more healthy fruits, like apples, generally have stronger immune system and have lower risks of acquiring infections, like the UTI.
Another way in which apples can protect you from the danger of UTI or at least from worsening your ongoing UTI is by improving your digestive system’s health.
Most of the time, women get UTIs because of bacterial migration from the colon (the large intestines) into the urinary tract, which is facilitated by their short urethras.
Consuming apples can have a direct effect on making your digestive system more resistant to harmful bacteria trying to settle in it or migrate through it into the urinary tract.
Apples contain a lot of fiber and polyphenolic compounds that can be used by your gut microbiome (the beneficial bacteria living inside your digestive system) as a food source, which would put your gut microbiome in a much better position to fight harmful pathogens trying to invade your digestive system.
These apple fibers and polyphenols will also get converted by that same beneficial bacteria into active metabolites that have protective qualities for your digestive system and whole body as well, making your gut even more resistant to foreign invaders, like bacteria and fungi.
This study shows that vegetarian people (who consume more fruits and vegetables than non-vegetarians) had lower amounts of pathogenic E. coli bacteria and other kinds of harmful bacteria in their stool.
The study concluded that that could be partly responsible for the lower risk of UTI that the study has also found among those people.
In conclusion, UTIs and their symptoms cannot be worsened by eating apples, on the contrary, all of the scientific evidence points out that UTIs can be treated and prevented more easily if people incorporate more apples into their diets.
Should I avoid eating apples or drinking fresh, homemade apple juice if I have a UTI?
Although the answer to this question should have become obvious by now but we will elaborate even further.
Medical professionals will tell you to avoid junk food and the foods that can elevate your blood sugar levels in a very high and sudden fashion, like sodas, chocolate bars, cakes, bakeries, pizzas, burgers and even rice.
You would be advised to avoid these kinds of food when you are sick, especially with an infection like the UTI, and even when you are healthy because these foods are extremely bad for health in general.
You would also be advised to follow a somewhat low carbohydrate, easily digestible diet and to increase your healthy fluid intake, especially when you are sick with an infection, like the UTI.
Why would you be advised to follow such kinds of Diet?
Because when you are sick, especially with an infection like the UTI, your body would benefit from every ounce of immunity and rehydration that it can have (metaphorically speaking) to ward off the infection.
So, the more you can bring in vitamins, minerals and other nutrients into your body, the more your body will be rehydrated and the stronger your immune system will be in the fight against invading bacteria, like the UTI bacteria.
Apples can do just that for you and even a little bit more.
Studies, scientific experiments (and logic really) point out the fact that fresh apples are actually the opposite of junk foods, and actually whatever harmful effect these junk foods do to our bodies and immune system, apples do the exact opposite.
Apples are full of fiber making them an easily digestible food because fibers can help greatly with digestion as we will elaborate further on in this article.
Fibers, especially the apple fiber pectin, also have the ability to slow down and reduce the absorption of sugar and carbohydrates, making apples a low calorie meal.
The aforementioned study shows that, contrary to junk food, when you eat fresh apples your blood sugar levels will be elevated in a low and gradual manner because the fiber content of apples will slow down and decrease the absorption of the already low amount of sugar found in apples.
This will give time to your body and will allow it to metabolize and process that sugar without any issues.
UTIs are negatively affected by the inflammation, dehydration and oxidative stress imposed on the body and on the urinary system by eating junk food, but apples can ameliorate all of these harmful processes because they do not contain as much sugars and carbs as junk food to begin with and because they contain a lot of fiber to reduce and slow down their absorption.
This will prevent any virtual harm that might come to the body from consuming apple carbohydrates and sugars, on the contrary, these apple carbs and sugars, like the fructose sugar, will be able to deliver energy to the body in a steady and gradual manner without shocking it in any way just like what what happens with eating junk food.
So, definitely you shouldn’t avoid eating apples when having a UTI.
Is it totally safe to eat apples if I have a UTI?
Unless you have a known and medically tested allergy to apples or any of its components, eating this healthy fruit is going to be extremely healthy and beneficial for you if you have a UTI or a similar kind of condition.
So, definitely, you can eat apples or even drink fresh apple juice when you have a UTI with no problem. On the contrary, this fruit can support the treatment and recovery from UTI.
There are no studies or any scientific evidence of any sort to support the claim that apples or even more acidic fruits, like lemons and oranges, can irritate the bladder or worsen UTI symptoms.
And, even highly acidic fruits like lemons and oranges cannot worsen UTI except for some rare cases and conditions. for example, if you eat them on an empty stomach while also having a UTI or something like that.
On the contrary, this large highly reliable study has found that there was no association of any sort between consuming acidic fruits of any kind, including apples, oranges and lemons, and any kind of UTI, or inflamed bladder symptoms (interstitial cystitis).
As for lemons, you can find more about how to use them in the best way to help you with UTI in our lemons for UTI article.
Can I eat apples if I have bladder problems ?
If you struggle with an inflamed or irritated bladder or interstitial cystitis, which is a condition characterized by the presence of UTI-like symptoms but without the presence of actual bacterial in the urinary system, then you should know that apples can actually help you defeat or at least control these kinds of conditions.
This study shows that eating apples and other kinds of fruit can help prevent bladder cancer.
Now, I know that irritated bladder issues or interstitial cystitis are not the same as cancer but the same mechanisms that can cause bladder cancer, like oxidative stress and inflammation, if they happen on a smaller scale, can also participate in causing an irritated or inflamed bladder or even UTI.
The more healthy fruits you eat on a regular basis the lower the chance of that happening, and even if you already have some kind of malignant or benign growth in your urinary system or anywhere in your body, apples and other healthy fruits can help you treat your condition.
What is the composition of apples and how does it relate to people having UTIs?
Apples have a lot of healthy components that can benefit the people who have UTI. Here are some of the most important of them.
Sugars and carbohydrates
If you have a sewer that is being clogged by tree leaves, small pieces of wood and other kinds of things, what do you think will happen to the water around it on the street?
The water will not manage to get through the sewer and into the sewer system or only a small portion of it will, and this is kind of also what happens when we eat apples.
The undigestible fiber will block the entrance (the absorption) of the sugar and carbohydrate molecules, preventing but for only a small amount of them from getting through the layers of the stomach and intestines and into the bloodstream.
So, eating whole (fresh) apples or drinking fresh apple juice will introduce sugars and carbs into your body in a gradual and gentle kind of manner that would not harm your body in any way.
Fiber
UTIs can be caused or aggravated by issues or diseases in our digestive system even if these issues were mild in their nature, like being bloated or constipated on a regular basis.
An unhealthy environment in our gut can provide the perfect conditions for bacteria to travel into the urinary tract and cause diseases, such as the UTI, there.
The fiber content of apples can help rid us of such issues, thereby it can help us treat and prevent UTIs.
Fiber is one of the most important ingredients of apples, and it’s responsible for many of the health benefits we see with these fruits, from directly improving our digestion to being digested (fermented) by our gut microbiome and getting converted into active metabolites that can strengthen our immune defenses against infections, colon cancer, ulcerative colitis and even neurodegenerative diseases and more.
UTI sufferers can greatly benefit from these healthy qualities and from another beneficial quality of fiber, which is that fiber can slow down and reduce the absorption of sugar in the body as we mentioned before.
Note: Fiber is undigestible by our digestive system and it needs to be fermented by our gut bacteria first to produce other kinds of compounds that can be then absorbed into our body.
If you want to know more about the difference in fiber content between whole apples and fresh apple juice and how that effects UTI, I suggest you visit our apple juice for UTI article.
B vitamins
Vitamins B1, B2, B5, B6, B9 and B12 are extremely important for our bodies. It’s just enough to know that any deficiency in any of these vitamins can cause us to be seriously ill or, worse, dead.
Most of the time you won’t have any severe deficiency in any of these vitamins, but mild to moderate deficiencies can occur without you noticing them or without you being able to detect them using blood tests or any other kind of test.
These deficiencies would happen inside the body tissues, for example in the nerves or muscles, and until the moment of speaking, there are no reliable ways to measure them.
In any case, you would benefit greatly from having more of these vitamins in your body whether you have a mild or severe deficiency in any of them or even if you have levels that are considered above the baseline for these vitamins.
Increasing the levels of the B vitamins in your body by eating apples will increase the level of protection for your nerve and muscle tissues, give you more energy (because the B vitamins work in the mitochondria to release energy) and strengthen your immune system.
UTIs can cause different kinds of damage to your bladder muscle and the nerves and blood vessels supplying it, including oxidative and inflammatory damage, and although this has not been proven by studies but the protective and immune-supportive qualities of the B vitamins may help prevent those kinds of damage from happening to your urinary system.
Minerals
UTI patients are in great need of minerals, which are converted into electrolytes inside the body in order to keep a proper level of hydration inside the body and to maintain proper blood pressure and volume. This is something extremely necessary for the proper functioning of our kidneys and urinary system.
Minerals, like zinc, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese and potassium are vital for our immune system and for a lot of other biological functions in the body, and any deficiency in them whether mild or severe can make people more susceptible to diseases in the urinary tract, like the urinary tract infection (UTI).
UTIs can cause your body to exhaust its stores of zinc, calcium, magnesium and other minerals, but if you eat more apples more frequently, you can replenish your bodily stores of these important elements and that can lower your risk of UTIs and it can also help you cure them if you have one.
Vitamin C
Do you know why many doctors advise flu patients and even COVID patients (especially at the time of the pandemic) to take vitamin C supplements?
It’s because its great for the immune system, and our immune defenses are the thing that can rid the body of viral infections, like the flu and COVID, and bacterial infections, like the UTI.
You would be strengthening your immune system when you consume vitamin C-rich foods, like apples, and one of reasons for this is vitamin C’s great anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential. All of that can reflect positively on your UTI condition.
Polyphenols
Polyphenolic compounds are a group of recently discovered compounds that have been found by scientists and medical researchers to possess extraordinary antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Studies have shown that these compounds can protect us from the risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even asthma because of their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and even immunomodulatory properties.
It’s also highly likely that these beneficial properties are not only limited to these conditions, but they can also be present in our urinary system, protecting us from conditions like kidney disease, kidney stones and even UTIs.
In one of the studies mentioned above it was shown that the people who consumed less fruits and vegetables, which are the kinds of food that contain high amounts of polyphenolic compounds, were twice as much likely to have cancer in comparison to the people who consumed more fruits and vegetables.
For people who have UTIs and for all people in general, their bodies would be able to absorb or assimilate (utilize) a much higher amount of polyphenols when they eat fresh apples in comparison to most other fruits
This is not only because apples have a high amount of polyphenolic compounds to begin with, but also because these polyphenols of apples come in their free unconjugated (unbounded) form, which allows for better absorption and utilization by the body.
In other words, the polyphenols of apples are more bioavailable in the body, which means that they are more beneficial.
This has made fresh Apples the second highest source of polyphenolic compounds in the Western diet according to statistics just right below berries.
UTIs can cause a lot of oxidative and inflammatory damage to the urinary tract as we elaborated earlier, and the polyphenolic compounds of apples with their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunoregulatory properties are one of the biggest reasons why apples can help protect us against such kinds of damage.
Triterpenes
In some of the studies we mentioned earlier, it was found that some of the protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of apples cannot be attributed only to the polyphenols or vitamins contained in apples.
Other kinds of compounds, like the triterpene compounds, are highly suspected to have a great part in the protective antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and even antibacterial properties of apples.
So, if you eat fresh apples or drink fresh apple juice, you would be getting the benefits of these triterpene compounds along with the other well-known benefits of the vitamins, polyphenolic compounds and minerals that apples have.
This is a table that shows the composition (components) of apples in comparison to other fruits that might be helpful for UTI.
The values in percentage reflect the recommended daily intake values, although these may vary from one person to another.
As for the polyphenolic compounds, it’s clear that a wide range of these compounds is present in apples and also in other fruits, but exact quantities and concentrations are still yet to be determined.
| Components (per 100 grams) | Apples | Cranberry | Lemon | Orange | Pineapple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 52kcal (3%) | 46kcal (2.5%) | 29kcal (1.5%) | 47kcal (2.5%) | 50kcal (3%) |
| Fiber | 2.4g (9%) | 3.6g (13.5%) | 2.8 (10.5%) | 2.4g (9%) | 1.4g (5%) |
| Vitamin C | 6mg (8%) | 14mg (17%) | 53mg (64%) | 53.2mg (64%) | 47.8mg (58%) |
| Vitamin B1 | 0.04mg (4%) | 0.012mg (1%) | 0.04mg (3%) | 0.087mg (8%) | 0.079mg (7%) |
| Vitamin B5 | 0.1mg (2%) | 0.295 (6%) | 0.19mg (4%) | 0.25mg (5%) | 0.213mg (4%) |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.07mg (5%) | 0.057 (4%) | 0.08mg (6%) | 0.06mg (5%) | 0.112mg (9%) |
| Vitamin B2 | 0.04mg (3%) | 0.2mg (2%) | 0.02mg (2%) | 0.04mg (3%) | 0.032mg (3%) |
| Vitamin B3 | 0.01mg (1%) | 0.1mg (1%) | 0.1mg (1%) | 0.282mg (2%) | 0.5mg (3%) |
| Vitamin E | 0.09mg (1%) | 1.3mg (9%) | Negligible | 0.18mg (1%) | Negligible |
| Iron | 0.1mg (1%) | 0.2mg (2%) | 0.6mg (5%) | 0.1mg (1%) | 0.29mg (2%) |
| Potassium | 100mg (5%) | 80mg (2%) | 138mg (3%) | 181mg (4%) | 109mg (2%) |
| Magnesium | 4mg (<1%) | 6mg (2%) | 8mg (2%) | 10mg (3%) | 12mg (3%) |
| Manganese | Negligible | 0.36mg (17%) | 0.03mg (1%) | 0.025mg (1%) | 0.927mg (44%) |
| Chloride | 44mg (6%) | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible |
| Copper | 0.03 (3%) | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible |
| Calcium | 5mg (1%) | 8mg (1%) | 26mg (3%) | 40mg (4%) | 13mg (1%) |
| Iodine | 4mg (3%) | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible |
| Zinc | Negligible | 0.1mg (1%) | 0.06mg (1%) | 0.07 (1%) | 0.12mg (1%) |
| Carotene | 27µg | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible |
| Lutein + zeaxanthin | 29µg | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible | Negligible |
What are the benefits of eating apples for people who have UTI?
Because this article is getting too long, we have made a separate article for this topic.
If you want to know more about this subject, please visit our benefits of eating apples for UTI article.
What about green apples? Are they good for UTI?
Because they haven’t developed completely into mature apples, green apples generally have less nutritional value than red apples. For example they have a lot less vitamin C and other kinds of vitamins in their composition.
They also have more fiber than red apples and although fiber can be healthy for the body, too much of it can lower the absorption of the already small amounts of nutrients found in green apples and it can also cause indigestion, which can reflect negatively on UTI.
What are the best fruits or the best fruit juice for urinary tract infections?
UTIs can cause a lot of inflammation and oxidation in the urinary tract because of the bacterial pathogenic activities, so the more anti-inflammatory and antioxidant the fruit or its juice is the better they are for UTI.
The above mentioned studies show that apples and apple juice come in second place after berries and cranberry juice in terms of their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory potential, which means that both of them are highly recommended for people who have UTI, but berries are only a little bit better.
Other kinds of fruits and their juices like pineapple and pineapple juice also have great anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities and therefore they can also be useful for people who suffer from UTI.
Note: you should not add any extra sugar to any of these fresh fruit juices or else you would be risking the possibility of diminishing or reducing their health benefits or worse turning them into something harmful for UTI and health in general.
Now that we have reached the conclusion of this article, I highly encourage you to check out our fruits for UTI article as it can be considered as our comprehensive guide on this subject.
Thank you so much for your patience. Stay healthy, stay safe and have a wonderful rest of your day.