Cranberry juice with sodding sweeteners

[CosyMintFish]

I have the familiar broken-glass in urethra sensation which tells me that a UTI is coming. Or perhaps is here. There’s usually a window of opportunity to head it off by drinking cranberry juice, but when I went to the shops this morning to buy some I found every single variety was made with artificial sweeteners.

Does anyone sell this stuff without sweeteners? The last thing I want to do is subject my urinary tract to sucralose, aspartame and steviol. I may just have to buy some cranberries and juice them myself, but it used to be the case that you could just buy the stuff.

i expect that the same male marketing executives who had the genius idea of scented sanitary towels has decided that what women with UTIs need is a bit more irritation.

AIBU to be cross? Any recommendations for sweetener-free brands?

Pago cranberry juice has no artificial sweeteners. I've bought packs from Amazon before, not sure which shops (if any) stock it.

Can you get cranberry powder capsules from a health food shop?

Asda do both or the big one near me does.

Robinsons lemon barley water is good for warding off a uti. I drink a glass a day after going through a spate of utis. Now haven't had one for over a year. Easy to keep in the cupboard. It does contain saccharin though.

I thought that was an old wives tale?! Does it really work?

I got unsweetened cranberry juice for DD from lidl when she had a UTI. She said it was disgusting and refused to drink it so it defeated the point somewhat.

My urologist told me cranberry juice is only effective at keeping UTIs at bay (and even that is questionable). Once you’ve got one, it’s literally the worst thing you can put into your bladder due to its high acidity. Stick to water/cystitis sachets!!

This business of sneaking artificial sweeteners into everything drives me absolutely crazy. I loathe sweeteners, whether it is aspartame, stevia, saccharine or whatever. I can always, always taste it, a horrible chemical flavour, and apparently it is really bad for your digestion because the body doesn’t know what to do with it.

What’s wrong with just reducing the sugar? Or - shock horror - no sugar?

I’d say your best bet would be a health food shop, Holland and Barrett or similar.

Totally agree. Used to like cranberry juice, especially at Xmas. Haven't bought it for ages because of sweeteners. Tonic water similar issue and lemonade. And zero alcohol gin..... Urgh.

Apart from being gross, my Dad always used sweetener and he died from pancreatic cancer. I don't trust the stuff at all.

I am extremely sensitive to sweeteners and they make me really ill.

My cranberry juice comes with the milk from Milk and More.

A good friend was told this by her old GP years ago. Worked for her & now me. I have a condition which makes me prone to a uti unfortunately so it's an amazing coincidence if it's not this!

I 💯agree.
I’d love to get artificial sweetener free chewing gum but it’s impossible to find.

Love your username 😀

I completely agree with you. It drives me mad!

This is not just a ‘woo’ thing

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8412316/

There is evidence that cranberry juice is effective. I know when I’m getting a UTI and drinking it does help to stop it taking hold.

It's to avoid the sugar tax.

And worse since the sugar tax - talk about unintended consequences! Insstead of having a bit too much sugar, the food industry has gone overboard on artificial chemicals. It is terrible.

Just in case it’s any help, you can buy d mannose tablets, which contain the active ingredient in cranberry juice. DP uses them. He has a medical condition which causes him to get frequent UTI’s. Sometimes the d mannose works quite quickly and sometimes it takes a while, but he has managed not to get to the antibiotics stage for a few years now. I have tried to convince him to take a maintenance dose but he can’t seem to be arsed.

Grape Tree sell Biona Cranberry Juice. No sugar or sweeteners. I buy it for my UTIs and it works. It's expensive and tastes gross but it's worth it.
Holland and Barrett used to sell it but my local store no longer does. The independent health food shop in town sells it so if you have an equivalent then look there.