Eating meat may increase your chances of getting a urinary tract infection, new research shows, as rates of the infection are sharply rising.
There was a “2.4 times growth in deathsfrom 1990 to 2019” from urinary tract infections, according to a study published in the National Library of Medicine.
That same study notes that the “absolute number of cases of UTIs increased by 60.40% from 252.25 million… in 1990 to 404.61 million …in 2019.”
Part of the problem is an increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria, most commonly E. coli, on meat — which, when eaten, is passed through feces and then introduced into the urinary tract while wiping, a report in Newsweek says.
Stock image of meat being cooked on a grill.
Getty
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says E. coli can survive refrigerator and freezer temperatures, adding that “the bacteria are killed by thorough cooking, which for ground beef is an internal temperature of 160°F (71.1°C) as measured by a food thermometer.”
“We’re used to the idea that foodborne E. coli can cause outbreaks of diarrhea, but the concept of foodborne E. coli causing urinary tract infections seems strange — that is, until you recognize that raw meat is often riddled with the E. coli strains that cause these infections” Lance B. Price, a professor of environmental and occupational health and the founder and co-director of the GW Antibiotic Resistance Action Center, told Newsweek in a statement.
The report cited a study from George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, which said that “E. coli causes approximately 6 to 8 million UTIs in the U.S. annually, as many as 480,000 to 640,000 extraintestinal FZEC [which stands for foodborne zoonotic E. coli] infections could occur in the U.S. each year.”
Women have a greater risk of developing a UTI over men, the Mayo Clinic says, and while it can be “painful and annoying” when it’s limited to the bladder, “serious health problems can result if a UTI spreads to the kidneys.”
Stock image of a woman in pain.
Getty
Signs that it’s spread to the kidneys can include back or side pain, a high fever, shaking, chills, nausea, and vomiting.
There are ways to lower your risk of a UTI, the Mayo Clinic says, which include wiping from front to back, staying hydrated, and urinating after sexual intercourse — as “being sexually active tends to lead to more UTIs.”
And while eating meat doesn’t guarantee that you’ll get a UTI, “eating meat that has been heavily treated with antibiotics may be contributing to increasing rates of antibiotic resistance as the human microbiome is being influenced by meat consumption,” Michelle Van Kuiken, a urologist and a urogynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told the National Geographic.
“This does not mean that if you eat meat, you are going to get a UTI, but it could increase the likelihood that you may end up colonized with a multi-drug resistant organism.”
