Tip: Stop UTIs With This Herb

Urinary tract infections are painful, expensive to treat, and they can reoccur. Here's how to kill those bad bugs for good.

Pee-Pee and Poo-Poo

Urinary tract infections aren't something many men experience, mainly because of anatomy. Basically, a man's pee-pee hole is pretty far away from his poo-poo hole. Not so with the female anatomy. And that means it's pretty easy to get an infection of the bladder from the E. coli and other bacteria that's, um... next door.

Women can also get UTIs from sex. Left untreated, the infection travels to the kidneys, then things really get ugly.

These common infections can be treated with a round of antibiotics, though not cheaply. Problem is, they reoccur, and taking a lot of antibiotics has a host of drawbacks, like creating strains of resistant bacteria that take over the world and stuff.

But at least now we know why UTIs boomerang back and how prevent the chance of reoccurrence with an over-the-counter herb.

Bladder

Researchers at Duke University Medical Center figured out why UTIs reoccur with a rat study. Basically, the bladder is designed to stretch when it's full of urine due to pouch-like structures within the lining. But E. coli can get in there and play hide-and-go-seek from antibiotics. If treatment drugs don't "reach" all of the bad bacteria, they come out to play again later.

However, the herb forskolin, known for revving up cellular activity, was found to drive the bacteria out from its hiding places where it could be passed on in the urine and/or be killed by the antibiotics. No hiding bugs, no reoccurrence of the same UTI.

Now, researchers in this animal study injected forskolin directly into the bladder (ouch) or administered it intravenously, but since oral forskolin has been used in Asian cultures for centuries to treat painful urination caused by UTIs, this should work with just a few capsules of a pure, bioenhanced forskolin extract.

But skip the hippie health-food store stuff and pick up some concentrated forskolin 1,9-carbonate, like Carbolin 19®. This is normally sold for muscle building and fat loss purposes, but it fits the bill here too. This pharmaceutical-grade form is also incased in a self-microemulsifying nutrient delivery system, which greatly enhances bioavailability.

Now remember, you still need to treat your UTI with antibiotics. Forskolin just decreases the likelihood of it coming back to bite you in the bladder.

  1. Duke University Medical Center. Herbal Treatment Effective For Recurring Urinary Tract Infections. ScienceDaily. 10 April 2007.
Chris Shugart is T Nation's Chief Content Officer and the creator of the Velocity Diet. As part of his investigative journalism for T Nation, Chris was featured on HBO’s "Real Sports with Bryant Gumble." Follow on Instagram