UTIs and Food Additives

SYNTHETIC FOOD ADDITIVES and URINARY TRACT/ BLADDER INFECTIONS

You won’t find the FDA very interested but scholarly scientific studies have linked synthetic additives in commercial (non-organic) chicken to recurrent urinary tract infections.  Studies have also linked antibiotics in chicken to increases in antibiotic-resistant urinary tract infections in women.  Other synthetic and industrialized food additives that have been linked with urinary tract and bladder infections (including interstitial cystitis (“painful bladder syndrome”), sensitive bladders, and frequent, recurring bladder infections or irregularities) include:

Animal antibiotics (of the types commonly found in commercial, non-organic chicken)

Synthetic animal growth hormones (found in commercial, non-organic meats and poultry)

Artificial sweeteners (found in a wide variety of processed foods)

BHT (a preservative common in everything from breakfast cereals, to butter, to snack food)

Calcium Propionate (the industrialized version is commonly used as a preservative in a wide variety of processed foods)

Nitrates/Nitrites (common in processed meats like bologna, bacon, hot dogs, etc.)

Propionic Acid  (Ethyl Formic Acid; Propanoic Acid; Methyl Acetic Acid; Ethanecarboxylic Acid (commonly used as a preservative and flavoring agent in a variety of processed foods from milk and dairy products, to bread products, to processed meats, meats and poultry)

Sodium Erythorbate (Sodium Isoascorbate; Erythorbic Acid ) (found in canned fruit, fruit juices, processed meats and other processed foods)

Sodium Propionate   (Salts and Esters of Propionic Acid) (used as a preservative in a wide variety of processed foods)

For more information about these food additives and where they are hiding, see the Food Additives to Avoid Listing (FATAL) in our book, “The Food Hacker’s Handbook: A Guide to Breaking the Processed Foods and Additives Addiction” (Food Hackers HandBook )

Solutions:  

1-Replace diets containing highly processed food with diets of low-processed and unprocessed foods that you prepare yourself.

2-Read the ingredients labels prior to purchase and choose alternative food items that are free of the additives listed here.