Dr Ugochukwu advised women experiencing menstrual pains to always go for regular medical checkups to determine if the pain is endometriosis, just menstrual pain or other conditions Increased water intake reduces urinary tract infections in women — Study

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine has suggested that premenopausal women with recurrent urinary tract infections (cystitis) who drank more water had less frequent infections in a randomized clinical trial.

The study included 140 women with recurrent cystitis who reported drinking less than 1.5 litres of total fluid daily (about six 8-ounce glasses).

During the 12 months of the trial, half the women were assigned to drink 1.5 litres of water in addition to their regular fluids, while the others did not change their regular fluid intake.

Episodes of cystitis were less frequent in women who drank more water for 12 months (average number of cystitis episodes was 1.7 for the women who drank more water compared with 3.2 for the women who didn’t).

The study can’t tell researchers what amount of daily water intake is sufficient to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections or whether drinking more water is beneficial for women at lower risk for recurrent cystitis or women who regularly drank more fluids than those in this study.

The authors suggest that drinking more water is a safe and inexpensive alternative strategy to prescribing antimicrobial treatment to try to prevent the infections.

The authors include Dr Thomas M. Hooton, of University of Miami, Florida, and other authors.