Ageing gracefully isn’t about trying to look like a 20-something — it’s about living your best life and having the physical and mental health to enjoy it, for as long as possible. Rather like a bottle of wine, you can get better with age – with the right care. Eating the right food and making positive lifestyle choices are crucial for supporting you through ageing, but there are also supplements that can have an impact on the health of your brain, your heart, your skin, your digestive system, your immune system, and your urinary and bladder health too.
While my range of natural, targeted supplements can be taken by all ages, there is one product in particular that I developed with women over the age of 50 in mind – my Women’s Health Duo. Seeing how many people, particularly older women, were struggling with recurrent UTIs, getting through courses of antibiotics like sweets, and this increasing their risk of getting a dangerous superbug (anti-microbial resistance), I knew I needed to offer a natural treatment protocol that would help treat UTIs so that they wouldn’t come back.
The Women’s Health Duo contains two natural products for a simple yet effective regime:
- A pot of For Women probiotic capsules to help crowd out the pathogenic bacteria in the bladder, preventing them from finding attachment points on the bladder and triggering a UTI, as well as helping to replenish healthy levels of friendly bacteria in the bladder and strengthening the urinary immune system.
- A pot of our high-strength Garlic tablets that further help to strengthen the immune system, and can help in the attack against e-coli bacteria, the most common culprit when it comes to UTIs.
This combination of two superstar supplements makes for a formidable duo in the fight against UTIs. The Duo comes with full instructions.
Although anyone can get UTIs, they are more likely to occur in women. And among these women, UTIs are more prevalent in older women. What’s more, older women are at risk for recurrent UTIs, which are those that occur over and over.
The conventional treatment for a UTI is a course of antibiotics. However, traditional antibiotics are starting to become ineffective due to overuse, as infections and bacterial strains have learned to adapt into superbugs. These superbugs are immune to traditional antibiotics, and they are a real threat if new antibiotics are not found.
Why are older women more likely to develop UTIs?
Women are more likely to develop UTIs during perimenopause and menopause. The main reason for this is a lower level of oestrogen. As oestrogen levels go down, your bladder and pelvic floor muscles may grow weaker. This can make it easier for bacteria to make their way into your bladder.
Once you have a UTI, there’s a chance you’ll get another one. This may happen for several reasons.
- As oestrogen levels decrease with age, your body may become less skilled at fighting off infection.
- Even if you are treated with antibiotics for a UTI, e-coli bacteria can survive the antibiotic onslaught, making them more resilient than ever and some of the bacteria that caused the infection may remain in close enough proximity to your bladder to cause a reinfection.
- As you get older, the pH levels in your urinary tract may change, making it easier for harmful bacteria to stay alive.
- The anatomy of the vagina changes as we age, with atrophy of the vaginal tissues, making it easier for the e-coli to crawl up the urethra, colonise and infect the bladder.
- Older women have a greater chance of developing diabetes, which is a risk factor for UTIs.
- As you age, your sense of thirst may decrease, and you may drink fewer fluids. Drinking plenty of liquids helps flush bacteria from the urinary tract.
Just like the gut, the bladder can become dysbiotic, where the friendly dominant species of bacteria have been usurped by the stronger, disease-causing strains, including e-coli. It’s e-coli that causes the majority of UTIs.
It’s a double whammy if a woman also suffers with constipation as this can put her at further risk of a UTI due to bacterial translocation from the gut to the bladder, potentially triggering a UTI.
Read how the supplements in the Duo have helped Jackie tackle her UTIs:
