Patient observation and studies performed by the relevant doctors have proven that nutrition may also play an important role in urinary incontinence.

To start with, the patient should not drink either excessive or reduced quantities of liquids; in the last case, urine becomes especially thick and, as a result, rich in crystals and salts that irritate the mucosa of the urinary bladder which, consequently, contracts involuntarily and leads to urine leakage.

Consumption of alcohol must also be minimized. The patient would do well to stop drinking alcoholic drinks and then start adding them to their meals in small quantities, until urinary incontinence appears.

Coffee, due to caffeine’s powerful diuretic effect, should be avoided by people who have urinary incontinence symptoms.

The main meals should not contain spices or spicy substances. Mexican and Chinese food – in general, the cuisine of the Far East – is not the best for the urinary tract, just like chili peppers.

Lastly, patients should avoid all acidic juices: orange, lemon, pineapple, currant and tomato juice, as well as all carbonated drinks.

A careful diet, instead, that aims at weight loss, is of particular help in cases of incontinence, combined with nutritional supplements that contain magnesium and VIT D, when their levels in blood tests are low and with the prior agreement of the attending physician.

Kindly contributed by Urologist – Andrologist Surgeon, Dr Charalambos P. Asvestis