Citrus fruits can make incontinence worse
Parenting

Top 5 Foods and Drinks that Can Make Incontinence Worse

Did you know that there are foods and drinks that could be making your incontinence worse? HARTMANN Direct talk us through the five worse culprits for making our dash to the toilet more urgent.

Incontinence is an issue that many women and men manage on a daily basis. It is a hidden problem, one that many people find embarrassing to admit to, talk about or seek help on. There are many reasons why you could be suffering from incontinence – which is why you should pay a visit to your GP – but the food and drink we consume also plays a part.

The following five foods and drinks can exacerbate urinary incontinence but, they affect anyone, incontinent or not. This is because of the way that they impact on the body. Take a look at the foods and drinks that can see us visit the toilet more often.

#1 Caffeine

Can’t start your day without your morning coffee or three? Love a large mug of tea mid-morning? Or maybe you enjoy the popping bubbles on your tongue of a branded soft drink to quench your thirst?

These drinks have one thing in common: they all have caffeine in them. And like most other things on this list, caffeine is a diuretic. In other words, one of the things it does when we consume it is make more urine in the system.

And that means, after your three cups of coffee, you may find you need to rush to the toilet. Check the ingredients on your favourite drinks – how many contain caffeine?

Caffeine can make incontinence worse

#2 Carbonated drinks

The caffeine in soft drinks has already been mentioned but with fizzy soft drinks, there is a double-whammy. All that locked in carbon dioxide that gives the drink its bubbles can irritate the bladder. And that means for anyone suffering urinary incontinence, a bubbly soft drink can lead to accidental escapes of urine.

#3 Alcohol

This list isn’t shaping up to be much fun, is it?! Alcohol has an effect on the kidneys.

Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it tells the kidneys to produce more urine which why when you drink, you need to urinate more frequently. For every gram of alcohol you drink, you produce 10ml more urine.

It can make for an unpleasant experience, which is why any suffering incontinence, cutting back or cutting our alcohol can improve urinary leaks.

Perhaps it would be easier to spell it out this way: if you drink a pint of larger or other alcoholic drink, you will visit the toilet twice. The first time to rid the system of the pint of fluid you have just drunk but the second toilet visit, which may be twenty or thirty minutes later, will be the expel the extra fluid your kidneys have been told to make by the alcohol.

Alcoholic drinks can make incontinence worse

#4 Citrus fruits and juice drinks

All of us want to make healthy decisions about what we eat and drink. And we all know how important consuming healthy fruits are. From your morning orange juice to the pineapple cubes you nibble on during the morning, to the lemon sorbet you opt for as dessert over calorific ice cream.

But some of these fruits are not your friend when it comes to incontinence. Citrus fruits – oranges, lemons, limes and so on – are also diuretics, encouraging your kidneys to make more urine.

And so, you would think they would be easy to avoid but there are other acidic fruits that are ingredients in more products and dishes than you realise. Take the humble tomato, for example. An acidic fruit, it is an ingredient in all kinds of products, from ketchup to sauces and more.

Cutting out or decreasing your intake of some fruits and tomato-based products can make a big difference to your bladder.

#5 Spicy foods

And finally, scrapping on to HARTMANN Direct’s top culprits for making incontinence worse is anything spicy, from flavoursome curry to super-hot Mexican dishes.

Research has found that spicy spices irritate the lining of the bladder and can be the very thing that makes your incontinence worse. Can you cut down on the spice, without compromising on the dining experience?

These foods and drinks have the same effects on everyone, whether they are incontinence or not. But if you do suffer from incontinence, it may be worth considering how they may be making the conditions worse.

If you find your incontinence is worse at times, then it may be down to the foods and drinks you are consuming. If you notice a pattern, why not make some changes?

Incontinence is an issue that affects women and men across the UK. HARTMANN Direct help people to manage incontinence with high-quality products, all discreetly delivered right to their door.

Claire x

Top 5 foods and drinks that can make incontinence worse

 

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