Urinary tract infections are painful. They frequently announce themselves with urinary urgency, but every time you run to the bathroom is torture. So a way to relieve the pain of a bladder infection would be most welcome. That is doubly true for a simple inexpensive home remedy such as parsley tea.
Could Parsley Tea Help Reduce Urinary Pain?
Q. I had recurring bladder infections over a 12 to 18 month period. This may sound a little “woo-woo” for some folks, but I got relief by drinking parsley tea. I experienced immediate pain relief and no recurrence in two years.
You can purchase parsley tea bags in any health food store or make your own tea with fresh parsley. I use about 1/2 bunch for a pot of tea. I sip it slowly over a couple hours, twice a day.
I do not recommend this treatment INSTEAD of medical treatment, but in ADDITION to it. My doctor was non-committal, but I am convinced this tea made the difference for me.
No Good Studies of Parsley for UTI:
A. Although there are many online testimonials touting parsley tea for urinary tract infections (UTIs), we could not find any good studies supporting this practice.
A group of Brazilian microbiologists analyzed parsley and rosemary for their activity against common bacteria that cause urinary infections (Petrolini et al, Brazilian Journal of Microbiology, online Dec. 17, 2013). While they found several compounds in rosemary that were promising, the results from parsley were too weak to be meaningful.
We’re glad to learn that parsley tea helped you, however. We don’t imagine that it will do any harm as long as you are under medical supervision to make sure your bladder infections are really gone. In addition, parsley is rich in vitamin K, so people taking warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven) should not eat too much of this herb.
