If you have a UTI, chocolate may not be the best thing to Include in your diet because it has a lot of ingredients that can irritate your bladder and your urinary system and make it more difficult for you to fight UTI.
Join me in this article to know why and a lot more.
Is chocolate good for UTI?
Many studies point to the protective qualities of chocolate on the heart, brain and body mainly because it has polyphenolic and flavonoid compounds that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties as we explained earlier.
These effects are not only good for the cardiovascular and nervous systems, but they are also very healthy for the kidneys and the urinary tract in general.
However, if you have a UTI, these effects will be overshadowed by the detrimental effects of the sugar content of chocolate and by the caffeinic content as well.
You will now see why these two ingredients of chocolate make it to have more harm than benefit for UTI people.
Note: chocolate also has other ingredients that proved to also be detrimental to the urinary tract like oxalates and theobromine which we will discuss later.
The problem with chocolate is that most of the commercially available chocolate brands nowadays contain high amounts of refined and processed sugars to enhance their taste.
This study shows how high sugar intake can negatively affect the immune system and result in it causing more harm than good by increasing inflammation and not properly defending the body against invading organisms.
High sugar intake can activate the immune system just like an invading pathogen would, the former study suggests.
This constant activation of the immune system can put a strain on the body and cause our immunity to work sub-optimally.
A dysfunctioning immune system can slow down the recovery from infection time, and it can further intensify the infection by increasing inflammation in the bladder and in the urinary tract in general without it managing to properly eliminate the bacteria that caused the UTI.
It is the job of the immune system to fight infections and remove them from the body, therefore we should not impede it from doing so by giving it more processed sugar from chocolate.
Chocolate has an abundance of sugars and calories and this is extremely unhealthy for UTI patients.
Sugar Can also dehydrate the body and reduce urine output, and that has its own harms on UTI Patients.
Another downside to chocolate is that all kinds of chocolate, except for white chocolate which has its own set of problems, naturally have a high concentration of caffeine and other similar compounds that come from the methylxanthines parent group of Compounds.
These methylxanthine compounds may vary a little bit in terms of their biological effects, but they all have one thing in common which is their diuretic effect.
These Xanthines, including caffeine, can force the body to eliminate electrolytes and water through urination, and that can particularly expose a UTI patient to the danger of dehydration.
Also, enforced diuresis may agitate an already irritated bladder muscle and force it to cause more of these incontinence symptoms of urgency and frequency, thereby aggravating UTI.
Don’t get me wrong, a mild diuretic effect is not contraindicated in the case of UTI, but on the contrary, sometimes it’s welcomed.
For example, the diuretic effect that comes from drinking between 3-6 liters of water, one or two bottles of beer or fresh fruit juice without added sugar when having a UTI is a beneficial one, and it can actually result in improving UTI.
But chocolate does not have enough water in it to compensate for the loss of electrolytes and fluids that is going to happen because of its diuretic effect.
Add that to the high sugar content found in both dark and milk chocolate, which also can cause dehydration, and a serious health concern is created, especially to people with UTI.
Dehydration is one of the main causes of UTI in the first place, and it can further intensify an already existing UTI and make it much more difficult to treat.
In addition, dehydration can create irritation in the urinary tract, which could be a precursor to UTI.
Want to know more on the dangers of dehydration on UTI people, see this article.
Almost all studies agree on the presence of an association between caffeine intake and urinary urgency and incontinence symptoms.
This major study found that its results were in agreement with the other studies in suggesting that caffeine intake equal to one cup of coffee per day had actually aggravated urinary urgency and incontinence symptoms.
All of these symptoms are associated and correlated with worsening UTIs or even causing them in the first place.
Meaning, that we want to attenuate these symptoms as much as possible, and one way to do that is by reducing caffeine consumption from chocolate or from any other foodstuff.
A third criticism of commercial Cocoa products is that processing gets rid of a lot of their health and nutritional value at the expense of flavor and palatability.
Mainly those healthy Flavonoids are not going to get through as they are to the end product after they go through all the processing from fermentation to alkalinization to many other sorts of processes that cocoa beans have to go through to become chocolate.
So, at the end chocolate would have a very reduced concentration of flavonoids, and that practically diminishes it’s positive health value.
Except for some manufacturers who have attempted to preserve the concentration of polyphenols (flavonoids) in the dark chocolate they are making and they have been somewhat successful at that.
But, in the case of UTI, even that flavonoid-rich healthy form of dark chocolate is not going to cut it because that very kind of chocolate is going to have a much higher concentration of oxalates and xanthines.
Both of these groups of compounds are contraindicated in the case of UTI as we have demonstrated earlier.
To see why oxalates in chocolate are detrimental for UTI patients, see the next sections.
What is the composition of chocolate and how does it relate to UTI?
Chocolate has hundreds or maybe thousands of compounds in its composition.
Also, this composition changes depending on the type of chocolate whether it’s dark, milk, white chocolate or other, and on the manufacturer.
Milk chocolate, which is the most commonly consumed type of chocolate, is basically made of cocoa powder or cocoa solids, milk and refined sugar.
Although as we said the composition varies not insignificantly with each different product, generally speaking, milk chocolate has a lower amount of cocoa powder or solids and a higher percentage of milk and refined sugar than dark chocolate.
One thing about cocoa powder is that it’s rich in polyphenolic (flavonoid) compounds and xanthine compounds (mainly caffeine and theobromine).
These are the compounds that cocoa, in its raw form, derives most of its nutritionaI health value from, but not chocolate.
Cocoa flavonoids have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, cardiovascular and neurovascular protective effects, which means that they can have some heaIth benefits for UTI people.
Xanthine compounds, like caffeine and theobromine, are being investigated for their neurovascular and cardiovascular-promoting qualities, but both of them have a diuretic effect that can prove detrimental for UTI patients.
Although caffeine and its other related compounds from the Xanthines group have some mild antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity, the diuretic effect here is much more in direct relationship with UTI Patients.
Milk chocolate only has a small percentage of flavonoids and xanthines because it only contains about 25% cocoa solids or slightly more than that or sometimes it’s even less.
Processing reduces the concentration of most of these healthy flavonoids of cocoa rendering it with less of these desirable antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can be useful for people with UTI. See this scientific review.
Milk chocolate contains ingredients that can be harmful to people who have a UTI or even to people who are susceptible to UTIs and want to prevent them namely the refined (processed) sugar content and the fat content that comes from milk.
Normally I do not advise against fats in food, but the combination of fat and sugar, especially refined sugar, in a certain kind of food is a lethal one.
Milk chocolate has both of them and the effects that that combination can have on the immune system can be disastrous for people, especially in the long run and especially for people who have UTI.
On the other side, dark chocolate is supposed to have less milk powder, less sugar and a higher percentage of cocoa solids meaning that it’s closer in its composition to the raw form of chocolate, which ideally has no added milk or sugar to it.
Dark chocolate has a higher amount of cocoa solids in it, hence it has more flavonoids and xanthines.
The lower fat and sugar content of dark chocolate is still not low enough to be considered as non-threatening for UTI patients.
Conversely, dark chocolate has a larger share of important vitamins, like B2 and B12, and minerals, like Iron, Manganese, Zinc, Phosphorus, Magnesium and Calcium, all of which are very important nutrients for the proper functioning of our bodies.
Milk chocolate also has the same vitamins but in lesser proportions obviously because of the lower percentage of cocoa solids (cocoa powder) in it.
White chocolate has no cocoa solids in its composition, however, it has cocoa butter, which is basically the fatty constituent of chocolate liquor that normally gets isolated from it leaving cocoa solids.
White chocolate is mainly comprised of chocolate butter, milk and refined sugar, and I guess by now you know that this combination is a very unhealthy one for UTI people and for everyone in general.
| Chocolate type | Sugar | Milk | Flavonoids | Caffeine | Oxalates | Fat |
| Milk chocolate | High | High | Very low | Medium | Medium | High |
| Dark chocolate | High | Non | Mostly low to medium | High | High | Medium |
| White Chocolate | High | High | Non | Non | Low | Very high |
| Chocolate Powder | Low | Non | High | High | High | Medium |
Dark chocolate and UTI
Although this type of chocolate has a lot of minerals and healthy phenolic compounds in it, still it has a significant amount of sugars and carbohydrates in it, and in addition to that, it retains its content of Xanthine compounds. Meaning that it still has caffeine and theobromine.
Lots of pieces of research have indicated that Dark chocolate and cocoa products in general, especially cocoa powder (or cocoa solids), hold great benefits for the heart, the cardiovascular system, diabetes and the whole body.
But, they haven’t pointed out how good exactly they are and how much do we need of them to be able to benefit from these health effects.
But, it’s worth bringing to attention that these studies were not talking about regular, commercially available dark chocolate, rather they were talking about flavonoid-rich dark chocolate, which can be considered as a separate type of chocolate on its own.
Flavonoid-rich dark chocolate is not as readily available in markets nowadays as other kinds of chocolate.
As I said, it was found that chocolate in general has antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities, even more so dark chocolate.
But, let us not forget that it has quadruple the caffeine and theobromine amount in comparison to milk chocolate.
All of these extra xanthines (caffeine and theobromine) with approximately no significant reduction in the number of calories coming from sugars and carbohydrates in most types of dark chocolate is not a great combination for UTI sufferers.
With dark chocolate, you would get more aggravation to the urinary tract and the bladder causing more disturbance and symptoms of urgency, frequency and nocturia.
It won’t stop at that as the risk of dehydration would be more present here than with milk chocolate.
All of that is because of the xanthine compounds and the caloric content of dark chocolate.
Dark chocolate just like its relative milk chocolate also has to go through all this processing from fermentation to roasting to mixing with other ingredients like refined sugar and so on.
I don’t expect you to believe that this does not have any toll on the final product nutritionally.
Milk does not get added into the mix of dark chocolate but refined sugar does, don’t let that bitter taste fool you.
Processing will also reduce the amounts of the nutritional polyphenolic compounds that can be found in natural cocoa, which are the basis for all the Purported health benefits of dark chocolate.
And, even if we have a dark chocolate bar that has a small percentage of sugar and calories, we’d still be worried about the abundance of caffeine and caffeinic compounds in dark chocolate.
That caffeinic content can expose UTI patients to the risk of dehydration, urinary bladder agitation and immunocompromisation, thereby it will worsen UTI and make it more difficult to treat.
So, I definitely do not recommend dark chocolate for people with UTI.
oxalates are also another downside to dark chocolate as it has an abundance of them, and we will discuss them later in this article.
White chocolate
We do not need to get into the details as to why this form of chocolate is the very opposite of what people with urinary tract infections should consume.
Just take a look at the fat and sugar content this kind of chocolate has and you can deduce for yourself how much impact is that going to have on the immune system of healthy people not to mention people who are already at an immunocompromised state because of a UTI.
Does chocolate cause urinary problems?
In general, mostly all kinds of chocolate can cause urinary issues ranging from incontinence to urgency to nocturia and to many other problems associated with agitated bladder.
And, all of these happen to be the same symptoms of UTI (cystitis) and interstitial cystitis.
The reasons for that can vary depending on the individual case and on the type of chocolate consumed.
For example, although white chocolate doesn’t have caffeine in it because it lacks cocoa solids or powder, its sugar and milk content can still cause dehydration and impaired immune response, and that in turn can lead to urinary symptoms or aggravating ones that already exist.
Dark chocolate has sugar, oxalates and caffeine, all of which are well known for their bladder-aggravating Properties.
Lastly, while milk chocolate has less caffeine and oxalates in its composition, generally speaking, it still has sugar content which in some cases could be extremely high.
So, milk chocolate is the same as dark chocolate in terms of causing urinary issues.
What is the healthiest form of chocolate and is it good for UTI?
I don’t know if they write that on the cover or not, but regardless of the type of chocolate, if it is not rich in flavonoids, then that particular chocolate bar or drink has almost zero health benefits, and in fact, it has only the detrimental effects of chocolate.
So, don’t look only for dark chocolate, but search for flavonoid-rich dark chocolate.
This, in my opinion, and the opinion of many studies is the healthiest form of chocolate which retains most of raw cocoa’s amazing effects on the body.
But, still, I won’t recommend it for UTI patients or for UTI prevention because of its high xanthine (caffeine and theobromine) and oxalate compounds content.
As we said earlier, caffeine can expose the body to the risk of dehydration and agitate the urinary bladder and aggravate symptoms.
So, the general advice would be to steer clear of chocolate for the time being when you have a UTI.
And, if you are someone who is vulnerable to UTIs, try to find a brand of dark chocolate that is rich in flavonoids and consume it only on separate occasions because you don’t want the side effects of caffeine and theobromine and oxalates on your urinary tract.
Does chocolate make UTI worse?
Not only does chocolate hold all these negative effects that come from its high sugar and caffeinic content, but nearly all kinds of chocolate also have a group of compounds that can be an additional detriment to those who suffer from UTI.
These groups of compounds are called oxalates, and they are found in high concentrations in cocoa Powder.
That means that they are found in all kinds of chocolate except for white chocolate as it’s the only kind of chocolate that does not contain cocoa powder (cocoa solids) in it.
A plethora of research confirms the fact that these oxalates are a major contributor to kidney stone formation.
High concentrations of them in the body of any person could very well mean that that Person is at high risk of developing kidney stones.
Not only that, research also shows a direct link between the oxalates Found Particularly in chocolate and kidney stone formation.
People who are prone to kidney stone disease are always advised by their physicians to avoid eating any cocoa product because even small amounts of them can lead to an increased risk of developing kidney stones, not to mention worsening already existing ones.
Kidney stones are a major UTI risk factor because any obstruction to urine flow in the urinary tract could cause the urine to stagnate in unwanted areas and attract bacteria just like stale water, hence causing UTI.
In addition, both finite crystals and large renal stones can scratch the underlining of the bladder and the urinary tract in general and cause it to bleed.
That bleeding can also be a source of attraction to bacteria.
In men, most UTI cases are caused either by renal calculi or by prostate enlargement, therefore We don’t want any kidney stone Promoting food, like chocolate, in our diet, especially not during an episode of UTI.
If you want to know more about the relationship between renal stones and UTI, refer to this article.
Summing it up
All chocolate products have a range of detrimental effects on people with UTI, ranging from dehydration to promoting kidney stones to causing agitation to the urinary tract and last but not least is immunocompromisation.
That’s why they are not recommended in the case of UTI, and even for normal individuals they should look only for the healthy kinds of chocolate and consume them only moderately.