Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the entire world, there are many types of tea like black tea, green tea, peppermint tea and etc…, many people wonder about their effects on UTI.
In this article, we are going to discuss the effects of different kinds of tea on people experiencing UTI, also, in the end, I will come out with a conclusion on which type of tea is best to be used for UTI sufferers.
Of course, black tea is the most commonly consumed type of tea in the whole world so we will discuss it first.
Black tea or regular tea
black tea is the most oxidized form of tea.
When I went researching on this topic I have found that there is one tea compound that can directly kill the bacteria causing your UTI condition.
This compound is called epigallocatechin (EGC), this compound meets the criteria for defeating urinary tract infection or at least stopping UTI’s spreading, it has good antimicrobial or antibacterial activity and also it’s excreted in urine and we all know that UTIs happen in the urine inside the urinary tract.
for any antibiotic (antibacterial) to work on urinary tract infections (UTI), it has to be at least excreted in some amount in urine, the more concentration of the antibiotic to be excreted in urine the more chance it will have to eliminate the bacteria causing the UTI.
so the catechines especially EGC are very important compounds when it comes to treating or help to treat UTI.
the more oxidized the tea the less it will have these catechines including EGC, and of course the less it’s oxidized the more the tea will have catechines.
the black tea is very oxidized as said earlier so it has a very little amount of these UTI treating catechines, in fact, most of its catechins are oxidized into polyphenols which are responsible for the distinctive color and odor of the black tea.
according to this study, the percentage of catechins found in the tea is down from 27% in green tea to 4% in black tea, this 23% difference between the two is converted into polyphenolic compounds in black tea.
now don’t get me wrong polyphenols also have their uses, it has been found that they have a great antioxidant activity which means they play a role in preventing cancer, also it has been known that polyphenols have anti-inflammatory which is very healthy for the body.
but when it comes to treating UTI what we will look for is the antibacterial activity and unfortunately polyphenols and other black tea compounds lack this property.
note: some black tea compounds have little antibacterial activity but these are not excreted in urine or excreted in small amounts.
One can ask that black tea still contains a little amount of catechins in it so isn’t that helpful for UTI?
Well yes, but of that 4% what is the percentage of the compound EGC which is the only catechine that has antibacterial activity and is excreted through urine at the same time, well it’s not a significant concentration to achieve some noticeable antibacterial activity against the UTI.
Polyphenols and some other compounds in black tea have some immunomodulating or immune-stimulating effects which are a good thing when it comes to fighting infections especially infections like the UTI, so that is a plus for the black tea.
black tea is high on caffeine
The caffeinic content on black tea is one of the highest if not the highest among other types of tea.
this is considered a minus for the black tea although it’s not that very big of a concentration that will affect your UTI with one cup, but if you drink more than 2 cups a day this can constitute a problem for you.
An 8-ounce cup of black tea contains approximately 30mg of caffeine depending on the brand, while an 8-ounce cup of coffee contains between 80 to 135mg of caffeine depending on the blending and the brand.
So if you are a coffee drinker it’s better for you to switch to black tea or green tea or approximately any type of tea because they contain less caffeine.
ps: caffeine is considered a bad compound for UTI, usually doctors ask their UTI patients to cut their intake of caffeine containing beverages or food like chocolate during the time of the infection.
green tea
Now let’s begin here with the caffeine, the green tea has almost the same concentration of caffeine as the black tea, it’s about 30mg per 8-ounce cup, but it’s still less than that of coffee.
This is a disadvantage for the green tea but again the caffeine concentration is not that big of a deal if you drink green tea in moderation.
Now we will come to a big advantage for the green tea
Green tea is not oxidized like black tea so it contains a very good concentration of those antibacterial catechines compounds especially the epigallocatechin (EGC) compound.
EGC is the only compound in green tea and maybe all tea types that is both has antimicrobial activity and is excreted in urine, according to NCBI it’s excreted in urine in high amounts enough to achieve an actual antimicrobial effect on the E. coli bacteria which is the bacteria responsible for about 80-90% of the UTI cases.
Japanese green tea has the highest concentration of EGC among all green tea types.
According to the previous study it has been found that drinking one cup of green tea will have an antimicrobial effect on the UTI bacteria and drinking more than one cup will even add to that effect and prolong it.
According to ScienceDirect drinking green tea will have a synergistic effect with the antibiotics used to treat UTI like trimethoprim, levofloxacin, amoxicillin, gentamicin, and ciprofloxacin, which means that the green tea will help those antibiotics in defeating the urinary tract infection (UTI).
The EGC compound is very important to our research in this topic, this compound was tested against multiple antibiotics resistant UTI bacteria and it has been found that EGC can kill or inhibit the growth of 99% of these bacteria (most of them were E. coli bacteria) at different concentrations.
These concentrations were achievable to be excreted in urine when drinking green tea in moderation.
Only the white tea has the same or more concentration of the antimicrobial catechin compounds (including EGC) than the green tea because it’s also not oxidized like the green tea but I don’t think that it’s very available at least I don’t see it in the supermarkets in my town.
peppermint tea
peppermint tea has many healthy compounds for the body in general, but it’s not very important for the purpose of this article because not many of them have antibacterial activity.
most of the peppermint tea compounds have antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antihistamine, immunomodulating, and analgesic properties, these properties can indirectly help people suffering from UTI especially the immunomodulating properties.
but this can take a long time before you can feel any improvement besides if you already have a UTI you will need something that works now.
some peppermint tea compounds like methnone and menthol actually have antimicrobial properties.
it has not been established yet whether if these two compounds are excreted in sufficient amounts to achieve any effect on the UTI bacteria but still any compound that has an antibacterial activity is good.
it’s also not have been established whether methnone and menthol can inhibit the growth of the E. coli bacteria in a realistic concentration.
meaning if you need to drink 10 cups a day of peppermint tea to achieve a sufficient concentration of methnone and menthol to inhibit the growth of your UTI bacteria then that is not realistic.
further research needs to be done on methnon and menthol so we can know their worth for people experiencing UTI.
a great plus for peppermint tea is that it’s very low with the caffeine unlike the green and black tea.
please check out my peppermint tea for UTI article for more information.
ginger tea
I have searched many medical sites for the healthy effects of ginger and ginger tea, it turns out to have many healthy actions on the body like anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, analgesic, and immunomodulating effects.
unfortunately, none of the ginger tea effects were directly related to UTI.
according to Healthline the immune-supporting or the immunomodulating effects are beneficial to people experiencing UTI but this is not a very big of an effect.
according to this study, most of the compounds in the ginger tea are not excreted in urine but they are excreted in the gastrointestinal tract so even if they have an antimicrobial effect this won’t be helpful because they can’t reach the urinary tract.
some references say that ginger tea actually has a very good antimicrobial or antibacterial effect and that can be true actually, so according to this many internet sites have been preaching ginger and ginger tea for UTI treatment.
but,
due to its excretion in the gastrointestinal tract (the gut), ginger tea shows most of its effects in there, although this can help in preventing UTIs in the future because the gut is the gateway from which the E. coli bacteria pass to the urinary tract to cause a UTI, but for someone who already has a UTI, they need something else.
something like an antimicrobial effect directly in the urinary tract, that’s why people who have UTI take antibiotics and that’s why the foods or beverages that have a direct antimicrobial effect in the urinary tract are preferred.
also, the therapeutic effects that ginger tea exerts in the gastrointestinal tract can prevent UTI from progressing any further if someone has a UTI, but like we said earlier this is not a direct effect that someone will feel right away or that someone will feel it during an episode of UTI.
chamomile tea
Chamomile tea has been linked with many therapeutic effects, people have been using it mainly to calm themselves and reduce anxiety.
Although there is no direct therapeutic effect from chamomile tea on the UTI condition, there are some effects that can be beneficial to UTI experiencing people.
Its immune-supporting and anti-inflammatory effects can somewhat make it easier for the person suffering from UTI, the anti-inflammatory effect of chamomile tea can reduce the inflammation caused by the body’s response to bacteria entering the urinary tract.
WebMD talks in general about the healthy chamomile tea effects in this article.
No antimicrobial effect from chamomile tea on UTI-causing bacteria like the E. coli bacteria has been noticed.
Now, who is our winner? it’s green tea obviously
Green tea is the only kind of tea from the teas that have been studied in this article to have a compound that can actually kill UTI bacteria and is also excreted in sufficient amounts in the urine.
this compound that we are talking about is epigallocatechin (EGC) it is also have been found in other kinds of unoxidized teas from the plant Camellia Sinensis which is the same plant for the black tea (the regular tea) and the green tea but the green tea is the most common and available kind.
drinking one cup of green tea can produce sufficient amounts of EGC in the urine to actually achieve an inhibitory effect on the UTI bacteria, drinking more than one cup will even add to the inhibitory effect and make it more prolonged but don’t drink too much because green tea has caffeine.
drinking green tea while you are taking your UTI antibiotics treatment will be synergistic with those antibiotics and will add to their effects, it will be very beneficial in the case of UTIs resisting antibiotics and also in the case of complicated UTIs and chronic UTIs.
all the other tea kinds had some compounds that were either had some antibacterial activity but isn’t excreted in enough concentration in the urine or not excreted in urine at all or had some compounds that are excreted in urine but did not have antibacterial activity in the first place.
all the other tea kinds can be beneficial for you if you are prone to UTI and want something to prevent it or if you are taking your treatments from the doctor and just want something to calm you down and aid the treatments, just remember to tell your doctor about them and to consume them in moderation.
that was everything for this article thank you very much for your patience and don’t forget to check this website KNOW AND TREAT UTI for more articles about UTI.