Here is an interesting statistic, one out of three women will contract a urinary tract infection by the time they reach their mid-twenties. Believe it or not, its the most commonly treated infection. Ready for this, it accounts for nearly 7 million office visits a year and once a woman has had one infection, she has about a a one in five chance of getting another one. Of course the typical approach in dealing with this uncomfortable health challenge, is to blast it with antibiotics, and we are all becoming painfully aware of the risks involved with massive use of antibiotics. I read recently that people are contracting infections in hospitals that are unfazed by ANY KNOWN antibiotic!  Its a life threatening situation. We have heard that this time was approaching when mutant microbes would be coming to take us away, take us away ho, ho, he, he, well they are  here!

So what do you do when you get one of these uncomfortable infections? Try not to go to the hospital unless you have no choice. I think I hear the trumpet blare of the cavalry in the distance. Take an extract made from Hibiscus Sabdariffa flower. The flowers are big! They are 3-4 inches in diameter, and along with the other parts of the plant, have been used for centuries around the world for many purposes including hypertension, and yes urinary tract infections. But, here is another benefit ladies, if you suffer from yeast infections, you might want to start drinking hibiscus flower tea as it has been show to deal with the fungus that causes yeast infections. Ugh!

So how does it work, much like the properties of cranberry, hibiscus prevents the bacteria from clinging to the lining of the urinary tract and bladder wall. Hibiscus may be as effective in dealing with UTI’s as the antiobiotic choramphenicol, without the obvious potential side effects. In laboratory tests hibiscus was more powerful then cranberry in its ability to deal with nasty little microbes especially candida albicans. Cranberry has been used effectively and is know by many to knock out UTIs. So look for combinations of both natural compounds to deal with existing infections, and if your prone to them, keeping the infections at bay!