About 2 months ago, I stumbled by chance on a nutritional food supplement that many people swear by its effectiveness in preventing and treating UTI.  This nutritional food supplement called D-Mannose is a simple sugar structurally related to glucose, that is found in many fruits, including peaches, apples, oranges, cranberries, and blueberries. It is also produced in your body. D-Mannose is considered a safe and natural nutritional food supplement. Since it isn’t metabolized, it doesn’t interfere with blood sugar regulation, and is therefore safe for diabetics.

I immediately did a Google search on D-Mannose and from my research, it really did sound convincing to me. As there was still bacteria detected in Baby’s urine then (3 months ago) despite the Ureteral Reimplantation surgery, I was really devastated and was really determined to find a way to help keep my Baby free from UTI. I immediately emailed the owner and manufacturer of the product to inquire if it was safe for a toddler to consume D-Mannose. The owner replied me promptly and told me that even infants can consume D-Mannose. I was quite convinced that D-Mannose would work on Baby too and emailed the owner/manufacturer of the product in the U.K. to order a tub to try. The owner responded and wrote something that I had least expected to read. She said she did not want to make a fortune out of my baby’s misfortunes and would send me the D-Mannose for free but I would have to bear the shipping charges. No problem, I immediately paid the shipping charges by credit card and within a week, I received not one but THREE tubs of D-Mannose from the manufacturer/owner. The owner requested that I keep this to myself and not publicize to the whole world that she sent the D-Mannose to me at no cost as she cannot afford to do this to every Tom, Dick and Harry, though she would really love to. I am really grateful and thankful to the owner for her act of kindness.

According to researchers at the Washington University (WU) School of Medicine in St. Louis, most UTIs start when Escherichia coli (E. coli)—a microorganism that lives in the digestive tract and is found in the anal area—invade the bladder and penetrate a protective coating of the superficial cells that line the bladder. In most cases, urine flow washes out bacteria from the bladder. But the cell wall of E. coli bacteria has tiny finger-like projections that contain complex molecules called lectins on their surface. These lectins are cellular glue that binds the bacteria to the bladder wall so they cannot be easily rinsed out by urination.

The chemical structure of D-Mannose causes it to stick to E. coli bacteria, maybe even more tenaciously than E.coli adheres to human cells. Although the mechanism of how it works is complicated, theoretically, if enough D-mannose is present in the urine, it binds to the bacteria and prevents them from attaching to the urinary tract lining

E. coli cells coated by D-mannose in the urine become unglued and get flushed right out of the body. And the beauty about D-mannose is that you can take it year-round without any side effects. You don’t have to wait until symptoms appear. From what I have read, D-Mannose only works on E-Coli and Klebsiella bacteria, the 2 most common bacteria that cause UTIs. So if you have other types of bacteria in your urinary tract system, the bacteria would not be ‘attracted’ to D-Mannose and cannot be flushed out from your body.

Baby has been taking D-Mannose for almost 2 months now and with God’s blessings, she has not gotten any UTI attacks for 3 months.  The Ureteral Reimplantation surgery has been a success too and I was told by our surgeon that the ‘dirty’ urine that I’ve been seeing on and off for the past 3 months could be the ‘debris’ from the urinary tract system as Baby has had bacteria in her urine from day 1.  Our surgeon knows that Baby is taking D-Mannose and he has no objection to it since D-Mannose is just a type of sugar that is found in many fruits, including cranberries – the most popular fruit known to help prevent UTI.

Disclaimer : This is not intended to be a medical advise. If you have urinary tract infection, please consult your doctor.