In this article, we are going to break the milk down to its basic components and see whether each one of these components is good for UTI or not.
Also, we are going to examine dairy products like yogurt and cheese, and see if they are good for your UTI condition or bad and how much of them is good and how much is too much, all of this will depend on what we will discover.
By the way, dairy products contain varying amounts of probiotics bacteria (the good kind of bacteria) which is what makes them sometimes healthy for UTI.
These probiotics are responsible for residing in the colon area and killing foreign bad bacteria invading the colon.
Most UTI cases are caused by bacteria coming from the colon area to the genitals and then to the bladder, having good amounts of probiotics in your colon will prevent that from happening.
But in many cases, dairy products do not contain a sufficient amount of probiotics to restore the colon storage of probiotics so one will need to take probiotics supplements that have been found to reduce the UTI incidence by a large margin.
Probiotics supplements like physician’s choice 60 Billion probiotics formula contains all of the probiotics specifically beneficial for UTI patients.
check out its price on Amazon.
calcium is the biggest component in milk it constitutes about 12 percent of a milk bottle, milk is well known for it’s benefits to the bones and that it strengthens the bones, it’s always advised for those who suffer from weak bones to drink a lot of milk.
these benefits that the milk has for the bones came from its high calcium content.
so calcium is good for the bones but is it good for UTI?
well yes, although it is feared that the intake of calcium might result in the formation of calcium oxalate kidney stones which can aggravate the uti, that’s never been the case of dietary calcium (the calcium that is found in milk and other foods not the calcium that is found in supplements) intake especially from a dairy product.
on the contrary, it’s been found scientifically that dietary calcium can decrease the risk of someone having a calcium oxalate kidney stones, and we know that many urinary tract infections were results that came after having calcium oxalate kidney stones.
so, if your UTI was caused by a kidney stone (there are many types of kidney stones but if you suffer from a kidney stone it’s most likely a calcium oxalate type) then the calcium that is found in the milk will benefit you, even if your uti was not caused by a kidney stone the calcium in the milk can make your body get rid of the oxalate salts that can irritate your urinary tract and aggravate the uti.
ps: the type of calcium that may lead to the formation of kidney stones is the one that is found in calcium supplements, not the one that is found in the milk so the calcium in milk is o.k. but the calcium in supplements is not.
another big constituent of milk is vitamin b-12.
vitamin b-12 has no direct relationship to the urinary tract infections, in general, it’s a good vitamin that does no harm to the body and it has benefits like treating anemia and cyanide poisoning.
also, the milk has vitamin b2 (riboflavin) like vitamin b-12 vitamin b-2 is a good vitamin that has benefits to the body like increasing energy reducing inflammation treating anemia and others but no significant effect on the uti.
protein is also found in milk.
milk contains proteins in a low amount but still, 100 grams of milk contains approximately 3.4 grams of different types of proteins, I wouldn’t say that this can be a problem for someone having a uti but if your uti was caused by a kidney stone or salts like uric acid salts (or if you are prone to them) then you better avoid the foods or drinks that contain proteins like milk or at least drink a lot of water after you drink milk or something like that.
another ingredient of milk is potassium, we talked about potassium in the previous banana article, potassium is an important ingredient in the human diet and all of us should have enough amounts of potassium in our diet for our bodies to function well so potassium can indirectly be good for the uti through its various functions in the body.
however, taking potassium from milk or any other source is contraindicated in a condition called Hyperkalemia (increased potassium concentration in the blood) and if you are taking a certain type of diuretics called potassium-sparing diuretics then you should decrease the amount of potassium you have from your meals.
the fats in the milk:
different types of milk contain a good amount of fats (except the fat-free type of milk) especially saturated fats.
do these fats have any significance on the UTI well, no not to my knowledge, it is necessary to keep moderate intake of fats in your diet for your overall health, but do these fats affect the UTI in some way, that is highly unlikely.
so, we investigated each one of the milk components separately, time to look at the bigger picture and see the milk as a whole.
in general, milk is not bad for urinary tract infections, however, if you are suffering from UTI milk is not the best choice also drinking excessive amounts of milk while having a UTI may worsen the case. replacing milk with water is the best choice though drinking milk moderately won’t hurt the uti.keep in mind that after drinking milk it’s best to drink 500 ml (2 cups) of water to keep your urine color transparent.
what about dairy products like yogurt?
yogurt contains a certain type of bacteria called the “good” bacteria (probiotics) these bacteria turn the milk into yogurt through a reaction of fermentation, these bacteria (like Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus) are not dangerous to humans, on the contrary, they may be helpful to humans.
some say that eating yogurt that contains different types of probiotics can prevent the harmful bacteria that caused the UTI from growing in the urinary tract, some studies found that people who eat more yogurt are less prone to suffer from a UTI in the future than people who eat less yogurt.
but caution must be taken
because if you are already having a UTI then your immune system is having some trouble so it is not advisable to introduce these probiotics (which are still bacteria even if they are not dangerous) to the body in that period of time in which the immune system is not performing at it’s best.
because of the fear that these probiotics might grab the opportunity and turn bad, that is especially in the case of yogurts that contain more than 2 or 3 types of bacteria although that is highly unlikely but caution must be taken.
and you must wait while you get rid of the uti and after that, you can eat yogurts as much as you like the probiotics in the yogurt will make sure to prevent the bacteria that caused the urinary tract infection from coming back again.
another dairy product is cheese.
some types of cheeses contain more probiotics than the others. the Gouda cheese contains the most probiotics while other types like cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, cottage cheese, and mozzarella cheese is also rich in probiotics but to a lesser extent.
the same thing here goes for the cheese.
as in yogurt the probiotics found in the cheese is also helpful, and can inhibit the growth of the bad bacteria but, the intake of bacteria even the helpful harmless bacteria in immunocompromised people like the people suffering from uti even if they are not very much immunocompromised and I don’t know if this word totally applies to them but still, wait until the uti is cured or somewhat getting better and then eat those cheeses and yogurts like an animal.
summary:
milk and dairy products contain different components some of them are good and can improve the uti directly like the calcium
– some of them are also good but have no direct effect on UTI like vitamin b-12, b-2, and potassium
– some of them are bad for UTI like proteins and to a lesser extent carbohydrates (and they are not bad if you take them in moderation)
– you can drink milk and eat other dairy products while having a UTI however, using them as a treatment for UTI is not advisable and you should resort to other alternatives for treatment.
keep healthy and be well by the way am not a native English speaker so excuse me if I made some mistakes.