If the water you are drinking happens to be more alkaline because it has more hydrogen ions in it or because of some ionizer machine or device or because of a high concentration of baking soda, then I highly discourage you from drinking it, especially if you want to use it as a UTI treatment.
Whatever you drink or eat you should aim for the goal of your urine pH keeping in the range of 6-7. This slightly acidic pH can prevent to some extent bacterial growth, although some bacteria can actually reproduce at it and cause UTIs still, this is the optimal ph for the urine.
You don’t want it to be highly acidic i.e, less than 5.5 because this will cause a lot of issues including kidney stones and you don’t want it to be highly alkaline i.e. more than 7 or 8 because this will also cause lots of problems like kidney disease.
Don’t try to manipulate your body or urine pH because that can be very dangerous to your health.
If you think that your body or urine is more acidic than it should be then just drink normal water and that should balance the electrolytes and ions system in your body just fine.
Minerals-based bottled water is also good just make sure that it really has a good percentage of minerals in it and that the manufacturer isn’t lying about that.
If you make your urine more alkaline than it has to be with alkaline water, your urine will be a good environment for some urinary tract infection bacteria that prefers that kind of medium like the pseudomonas bacteria.
This bacteria can be sometimes resistant and hard to eliminate by UTI antibiotics so avoid this.
Fortunately, alkaline water doesn’t have a great impact on alkalinizing the urine unless it contains a high concentration of sodium bicarbonates (baking soda).
In that case, the urine alkalinization effect can be much greater same with ionizer-based alkaline water, but with bottled water that we buy from supermarkets, most people have used it as their drinking water instead of tap water without facing problems. just make sure that you buy from a trusted brand.
Most bottled water brands claim to have a pH of 7.4, which is approximately neutral.
On the cover, they claim to have added different kinds of electrolytes to the water like sodium, chloride, magnesium, calcium and potassium electrolytes, which if it’s true, it’s going to be really healthy for the person drinking the water.
Note: some people consider this type of water as alkaline water, but I think it’s very close to being neutral.
I recommend buying bottled water from a trusted brand that has a good reputation, which prevents it from cheating customers in terms of the components they actually claim to be found in their products.
I also recommend bottled water or any kind of water that truly has a pH of 7.4 and has a balanced concentration of electrolytes and minerals like sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, calcium and others
Alkaline water hydrates the body more than regular water. How does that impact UTI patients?
Mineral-based alkaline water is associated with less urine output and volume in athletic as well as other individuals although it’s associated with more hydration for body tissues in general.
Meaning the body will retain more of this water along with the minerals in it in the tissues and not excrete them with urine. That’s the difference between mineral-based alkaline water (not to be confused with mineral-based bottled water) and tap water.
In this case, UTI patients need to drink more of this water in order to produce the same amount of urine volume and output as regular tap or bottled water.
They’ll also have to make sure that it’s not highly alkaline (pH level above 8) and that the alkalinity of this type of water is caused by the concentration of minerals and electrolytes in it, not by the presence of high concentrations of baking soda.
UTI patients need to drink more water to increase their urine output and lower the concentrations of substances in their urine so as to try the flush as much of the bacteria as they can and to try to halt its reproduction by increasing urine volume, but apparently, mineral-based alkaline water does a poorer job in that aspect than normal table water or even normal bottled water like Aquafina or whatever.
It was proven in this study that high fluid intake (mainly water) is associated with a lower risk of recurrent UTIs especially in patients who are at risk (mostly premenopausal women) with approximately no adverse effects.
That is why we recommend that every UTI patient and even kidney stone patients should drink a lot of water (3 -4 liters daily).
For more information about the importance of water in the presence of UTI see this article.
The minerals in mineral-based alkaline water, not ionizer-based or baking soda-based alkaline water, are actually very healthy for the body in general as they improve the hydration state of the body as research says and enhance the electrolytes balance and acid-base balance in the body.
There is no harm from improving electrolytes balance or acid-base balance in your body by using mineral-based alkaline water but as we specified earlier you should not use it in the case of UTI.
All of these are beneficial effects but you will have to make sure of two things:
- The water you are buying does really contain the electorytes that it proclaims to have.
- That you are healthy and do not have an underlying urinary tract infection, otherwise, this can be somewhat problematic or will not help you in improving your condition, to say the least.
Baking soda-based alkaline water
Be careful especially of baking soda-based alkaline water because it has the potential to alter your urine pH, not your blood pH, to beyond normal ranges, and that can pose a lot of risks for you if you have a UTI, especially if you drink it regularly.
Increasing urine pH to a degree where it can become highly alkaline can mean kidney damage and that damage sometimes stays permanently, so you should not do that.
Spring water
This study proves that consuming more spring water is just as beneficial as consuming more tap water in terms of treating kidney stones disease.
Spring water obviously is a very healthy form of water that one can have for UTI, but I don’t know if people in the US or other countries can get their hands on it rather easily if so, it is very healthy for UTI people but you must be sure that it is really spring water.
First off, it is very pure meaning that it has very little contamination or pollutants and it also contains a lot of healthy minerals and electrolytes just in the right concentrations that our bodies have gotten used to.
Spring water is naturally slightly alkaline or near neutral, and that is because of the minerals in it. what’s important is not whether the water is alkaline or acidic but whether if it contains minerals and electrolytes in it in appropriate amounts and that’s what spring water does.
You also don’t want the water to contain high concentrations of these minerals because the abundance of these minerals is also not healthy especially for people with some pre-existing conditions like edema or cardiovascular problems.
Remember it’s not about abundance it’s about balance and spring water is perfectly balanced most of the time.
In my opinion, Poland Spring Origin spring water is the best option for UTI patients, and that is because it’s taken from the natural groundwaters of Poland with no additives or processing that can reduce quality.
The natural and balanced electrolytes and minerals concentration in this spring water is what got me to choose it over other brands in addition to its perfectly suitable pH for UTI sufferers and for everyone basically, which ranges from 6.6 to 7.7.
Just pay extra attention to the packaging and shipping and you will be good to go.
This near-neutral pH is very important. It’s also what all kinds of drinking water should have.
Ionized water or ionizer-based alkaline water
This website measured a lot of different pH levels for different kinds of water, and from the table, it appears to be that ionizer water or ionized water can sometimes be very alkaline, in fact, way more alkaline than required.
I highly advise against drinking that kind of water, especially on a regular basis as it has a lot of harmful effects on the body and for patients with UTIs.
Normal urine Ph
For the topic of urine pH or urine acidity or alkalinity, I’m going to say one thing, anyone who tells you to make your urine acidic or alkaline in order to fight urinary tract infection is not a real doctor or pharmacist.
When it comes to urine pH, you should aim for a neutral level and between 6 and 7 is also good. Slightly alkaline or slightly acidic urine is something that we have nothing against. If your urine pH gets above 8 or below 5.5 then you are going to have some problems and they could be worse than UTI.
So don’t drink water filled with sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) or ionized water just to make your urine basic that’s not going to improve your condition.
For more information about this topic see our article.
It is at the near-neutral pH level that your immune system can work at its best to fight off the UTI.
There is a protein called siderocalin that the body produces as part of the Immune response against infections like UTI. according to research, this protein is usually found in urine when there is a UTI.
The research shows that this protein is found in higher concentrations in urine samples that have near-neutral pH.
What that means is that your body won’t be able to fight urinary tract infection in the best way possible if you make your urine highly alkaline using any kind of alkaline water or therapy, not to mention if you make it highly acidic.
Don’t worry too much about whether your urine is basic or acidic just make sure that you drink enough tap water or normal bottled water, which will also do the trick.
In addition, there are multiple other factors that govern the body’s response to UTI and whether it’s going to halt the growth of the UTI bacteria or not other than just the pH of urine.
Factors that include whether if the person was healthy or not, do they have a strong immune system in general, urine volume and output, the presence of food particles in urine that the bacteria can feed on, the type of bacteria causing the UTI and whether if it is resistant.
In many cases, patients will need antibiotics to defeat UTI so they are not recommended to depend just on their immunity to get rid of the infection. They must pay a visit to the doctor and then the doctor will decide on the best course of action.
In many other cases, the infection will subside before becoming a threat that needs to be neutralized with antibiotics but as I said, let’s leave that to the doctor to decide.
How much alkaline water can I drink a day?
If you have a UTI, preferably that you don’t, but if you are perfectly healthy, drink only mineral-based alkaline water in only in few amounts less than 0.5 a litre a day. But, at the end you don’t have to.
If you drink 100% natural spring water or mineral-based normal bottled water then drink as much as you want
Table water in countries like the US or European countries I guess is much better than developing countries, so you can use it as your regular day-to-day drinking water just fine except if it was obvious that the water quality is bad or that the water is highly contaminated.
You should never drink baking soda-based alkaline water or ionizer-based alkaline water at all unless you are being told to do so by a medical professional.
Normally doctors will prescribe dissolved sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for conditions like kidney stones, metabolic acidosis and things like that.
Alkaline water lowers the specific gravity of urine. What does that mean for UTI patients?
The lowered specific gravity is a result that we should examine. it means that urine is less dense and contains less electrolytes and other particles. This is kind of a good thing for UTI sufferers because in this type of urine there will be less substances for the bacteria to feed on and replicate.
But for a person already suffering from a UTI, they will need the direct effect of increased urine output and volume and this can only be achieved with regular normal tap water or bottled water.
Because alkaline water is somewhat delicious and some people actually like its taste, these people will drink more of it than if they were drinking regular tap water.
Thereby, by drinking more alkaline water there UTI or kidney stones might improve because as we know drinking more water, in general, is good for the kidneys and UTI, but that would only work if the alkaline water these people drank was mineral-based alkaline water or spring water or some kind of bottled water that’s rich in electrolytes and minerals.
If they would have drunk the same amount of tap or table water as the alkaline water, they would have seen the same effect on UTI if not better.
In the case of baking soda alkaline water or ionized alkaline water or any kind of abnormal water that is too alkaline and for the wrong reasons then this will bring a lot of harm and with approximately no benefits.
Alkaline water benefits
The purported benefits of alkaline water overall are not based on strong or substantial evidence. For example, its effectiveness against acid reflux is true, but it is only a short-term solution and if it’s used in the long run, the acid reflux problem will get even worse because of two things:
The reverse feedback mechanism, which is when the stomach becomes more alkaline than it should be, it secretes more acid, and the digestive problems that are created from the over deactivation of important digestive enzymes like pepsin.
In this case, we are talking particularly about baking soda based alkaline water, ionizer water and similar products because bottled water is not usually considered alkaline water.
The claimed activity of alkaline water against cancer is completely baseless and there is not one scientific study that supports that so the point is: alkaline water is not as healthy and beneficial as some might say.
Only real mineral-based alkaline water can have improved hydration benefits for the body, while other kinds of alkaline water as we have specified earlier do not have any value and are actually harmful.
Tap water pH level
Some people say: that tap water is acidic so you must not drink it because it will worsen the UTI.
well, I strongly disagree, because the ph of the tap water is almost the same as the normal pH of the urine so drinking tap water will not change the pH of the urine, in other words, it will not make the urine more acidic or more basic so it will not make you more susceptible to the UTI.
Tap water pH ranges from 6 to 8.5 and that pH is completely normal.
Our recommendation
Better than alkaline water you can drink lemon juice or lemon water to prevent UTIs. these two contain a lot of healthy vitamins that will strengthen your immunity against this infection.
They do not alter your urine pH in a bad way, and, they increase urine output and volume, which is a result that we want.
In addition, they contain citrus compounds which are very healthy for people with kidney stones and UTIs. Visit this article to know more about them.
Thank you very much for reading this article.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us, and we will try to help you as much as we can