Neem is really an amazing plant with enormous health benefits, however, these benefits have not been fully utilized on a scientific basis until now.
The only problem with Neem is the route of administration and the methods of extraction, dilution, and processing.
How to use this plant in the best way for it to exhibit its disease-curing effectiveness? How to administer it effectively for it to exert its antibacterial activity on the bacteria that is causing a urinary tract infection to someone? What’s the difference between using it in the short term and long term, especially for UTI patients?
It is now a well-known scientific fact that some Neem constituents and parts of the plant, like the leaves, fruit, seeds, etc., have antibacterial, antiviral, and antimicrobial properties, which can be promising in terms of UTI treatment.
However, a few problems accompany that at the same time, which are the presence of toxic compounds alongside the medicinal compounds in these parts of the Neem tree. And even add to that, some of Neem’s compounds, such as nimbin and nimbdin, that have therapeutic effects can cause undesired effects on the person consuming a Neem extract.
Neem tree is considered a weed, and in some countries, it’s considered illegal to buy, sell, or carry the seeds of this tree.
Originally neem is used to prevent insects from harming trees, and, sometimes, neem extracts are sprayed on clothes, in some countries like India, also to get rid of insects. So, it’s mostly used as an insect repellent.
Neem has compounds in it that have a great ability to kill the bacteria and microbes that grow on food, therefore Neem is now studied for that purpose. This indicates that Neem extracts are useful in fighting some other kinds of bacteria like UTI bacteria.
Why would some people want to use Neem as a treatment for their UTIs?
Neem has a lot of desired effects for all people and especially for people who have UTI.
Effects like the antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antidiabetic effects are really beneficial as multiple pieces of research show. However, Neem is not devoid of some side effects which are also confirmed by research.
Apparently, the same compounds of Neem that have some favorable effects on UTI patients, like Nimbin, Nimbdin and others have some side effects that might not be so useful. these side effects include damages to the liver small intestines kidneys and etc.
Neem has a lot of beneficial effects on the body like its role in reducing obesity and reversing hypertension and diabetes and although this has nothing to do with UTIs directly, it can aid in the prevention of UTI indirectly through promoting health of individuals.
Some Neem extracts have been found to cure vaginal infections that cause discharge in women, like the parasitic Trichomonas vaginalis, the fungal Candida albicans and bacterial vaginosis. See this study.
This actually an extremely helpful thing for women as it is well-known in the scientific literature that these infections are risk factors for urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Neem also plays a good role against cancer through its antioxidative activity, and this antioxidative effect can protect the organs of the body, including the urinary tract, against diseases and render them undamaged.
In one study it was shown that a Neem extract had the ability to induce cell death in leukemia cancer cells.
The antibacterial activity of Neem against uropathogenic bacteria, meaning bacteria that has the potential to cause UTI, like the infamous E. coli bacteria was demonstrated throughout a plethora of studies.
Even the doses, compounds and extracts of which parts of the plant that has an effect against bacteria in general especially the UTI causing bacteria were identified.
Actually, Neem leaf extracts have proven to have specific antibacterial activity against various uropathogenes that can cause urinary tract infections in humans, like the E. coli bacteria, which is responsible for most UTI cases around the world, pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria and Klebsiella pneumonia. See this study.
Neem’s anti-diabetic effect
Neem has proven blood sugar-lowering effects as was shown by a lot of research. This does not stop at being useful for diabetic patients as it can also reduce obesity and the risk of cardiovascular events because as you might have known all these conditions are connected to one another.
Another condition that is connected to diabetes is UTI. Diabetes patients who experience an episode of UTI are more likely to have another episode in the future, and also the treatment of UTI for these patients will be harder.
From the scientific literature, now we know that Neem extracts have the double activity of fighting against bacterial infections and reducing blood sugar, which is an advantage for these extracts.
Check our vegetables for UTI article. It might be helpful to you.
Nimbdin: a potentially useful compound of Neem for UTI patients.
Neem has a compound in it that is called Nimbdin, this compound is believed by some people to have antibacterial activity (by the way it is the compound that is mostly responsible for the bitter taste of neem) however, some studies that I have searched show the exact opposite.
In a study, I have searched Nimbdin showed various effects on the central nervous system (meaning on the brain) these effects were mostly sedation, effects on the motility of the gastrointestinal tract and other effects but none of them had any relation to the killing bacteria, so it’s not the Neem compound that is responsible for Neem’s antibacterial effects that may benefit UTI people.
In another study, nimbdin showed that it has suppressed the macrophages and neutrophils, which white blood cells that form a parts of our immune response against infections and foreign bodies entering the body, from functioning completely. This means that this compound has an anti-inflammatory effect.
UTI patients might actually profit from this effect as an inflamed urinary tract caused by an existing UTI can cause even additional problems. In fact most UTI symptoms come as a result of inflamed bladder walls.
Sometimes the bladder or any part of the urinary tract can be inflamed as a result of white blood cells attacking a bacterial infection that has invaded that part of the urinary tract.
An inflammatory response in the urinary tract especially in the bladder can also happen sometimes without the presence of a bacterial infection and for no obvious reasons, in which case the condition will be called Cystitis not UTI.
Either way, nimbdin is found to reduce that response, which can mitigate the symptoms of UTI or Cystitis and help in treating disease. This is a very beneficial effect for people suffering from UTI.
More about the difference between Cystitis and UTI is in our Cystitis vs UTI article.
Neem oil
But, nimbdin is not responsible for the antibacterial effect of Neem, so are these claims that neem has antibacterial activity wrong?
Well, these claims have some basis to them, in fact, some researchers have noticed a compound in the neem oil that has immunomodulatory activity.
This compound is called NIM-76. Researchers saw that this compound had the ability to stimulate certain cells of our immune system to improve the immune system’s response against infection, also it had the ability to stop some viral infections, not just bacterial infections.
This is an advantage for the Neem tree and especially for this compound (NIM-76) because some types of UTI are caused by viral infections, in general NIM-76 has antimicrobial activities (antimicrobial means antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal).
That is being said, Neem oil is a very toxic compound, especially if ingested orally, and it can even be damaging for the skin if used in the wrong way, so you should never use Neem oil or any kind of its derivatives to cure UTI.
Some people drink it to relieve themselves from their UTI or so.
Although it works sometimes for them, most of the time it causes them irritation in their stomach and burning, and with high doses, it can be fatal because it has a lot of compounds that are toxic to the human body.
Neem oil is the most toxic product of Neem, so never try ingesting any Neem oil product or derivative.
NIM-76 is not the only Neem compound that has antimicrobial activity.
One study shows that various neem extracts, especially leaves extracts, showed antimicrobial activities, and they almost shared the same way in dealing with bacteria and other microbes, they all prevent the growth of these bacteria and microbes through breaking down the cell wall of these bacteria and microbes.
Ps: all bacteria and viruses and fungi have a cell wall that protects the bacteria or the virus, etc., from the environment that surrounds them, and when the neem extracts break down the cell wall of these microbes, there is no other thing to protect them so they eventually die.
The first thing that you want to do when you have a UTI is to kill all the bacteria in your urinary tract that caused it, neem extracts have the ability to kill the bacteria or at least inhibit its growth, that’s why we can’t say that neem is not good for the UTI.
for example, an extract from Neem leaves showed an ability to kill some bacteria of certain types like Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA bacteria, and by the way, these bacteria can only be killed by powerful and expensive antibiotics nowadays, having this ability to kill those bacteria is the most important benefit that Neem leaves extract can give to the patients of UTI.
Not just the leaves extracts that have an antibacterial activity also the seed and bark extracts of neem have an antibacterial activity but to a lesser extent from the leaves extracts.
What’s great about Neem is that all the studies and findings about its therapeutic uses especially its antimicrobial effects were consistent and not one of them was contradicting the others at least to my knowledge.
Several and several old and new studies confirm this beneficial effect of neem especially for UTI patients because many studies tested the activity of some neem extracts against the notorious E. coli bacteria, which we all know is the bacteria accounted for 80% of UTI cases around the world and against other types of bacteria as well.
This large review study confirms that.
The anti-inflammatory effects of Neem leaves extracts
Although neem leaf extracts have weaker anti-inflammatory activity than dexamethasone, which is a potent anti-inflammatory steroidal drug, their effects are still significant as they will halt the progress of a strong inflammatory episode, according to this study.
there have been various studies that confirm the anti-inflammatory effect of neem extracts and they suggest differing mechanisms for that effect. However, they all agree that neem extracts, specifically speaking, Neem leaves extracts have powerful anti-inflammatory effects that need further investigation and utilization.
This anti-inflammatory effect is very useful, in fact, in the case of UTI because most UTI symptoms and general damage received from UTIs are not just due to the actual invasion of bacteria to the urinary tract, it’s largely due to the ensuing inflammatory response that occurs as a result to the infection, as we explained earlier.
Our fruit for UTI article might be of value to you.
How to Utilize the best of Neem
Maybe in the future pharmacists will be able to extract from the Neem tree all the compounds that have the ability to kill the E. coli, Klebsiella, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus bacteria, (these are the bacteria that cause UTI most of the time) And the fungi Candida albicans, which can also cause the UTI.
So, if pharmacists can extract from neem the compounds that can kill all those bacteria and fungi that I mentioned earlier and leave the other compounds that have no benefits for the UTI whatsoever, then this will be the best use for this Neem tree.
On the other hand, the extraction methods that have been done until now for neem, all did not fully extract UTI-specific or at least infection-specific neem compounds separately.
For example, you can find in Neem leaves extract a lot of compounds some of them good and some of them bad for the UTI and in the seed extract you can find compounds that have nothing to do with UTI and maybe you can find some compounds that are bad for you and can cause you some bad side effects.
Which part of the Neem tree is most suited for UTI.
In general, Neem leaves extracts are less intolerable and are more therapeutic, especially for patients who have UTI than Neem oil as their activity against multiple UTI bacteria has been established.
But still, they are far from being able to be used as a treatment for UTI right now and they need much more research to make them safer and more useful in killing UTI bacteria. They are still considered unsafe for the purpose of curing diseases like UTI.
However, this research shows that Neem stem bark extracts are safer and are associated with fewer side effects than Neem leaves extract. They also have medicinal properties similar to those of Neem leaves extracts.
I do not recommend that UTI patients use any Neem product or extract as a treatment for UTI, but based on this research I can say that people who have UTI can use either Neem leaves extracts products or preferably Neem stem bark extracts products as a supplemental or adjunctive therapy for UTI, but only under medical supervision and never without notifying the doctor or the pharmacist.
Here is a Neem leaf extract product that might be suitable for the aforementioned purpose only. Do not take it based on the dose recommended written on the bottle. consult your doctor and pharmacist because they know your individual case and can advise you with the recommended dose.
Neem’s safety for people who have UTI
The problem with Neem extracts is that safety profiles for them have not been established in humans yet.
Although oral administration of Neem extracts is less toxic than other routes, if used for the purpose of treating UTI, Neem extracts will need to be ingested in high concentrations to achieve a therapeutic effect, and these high concentrations can be intolerable for the human body.
In addition, almost every extract from Neem has a sedative effect not to mention if you eat the raw leaves or bark or the seeds of this tree they have a weed-like effect so you could eat a neem leaf to treat your UTI then the pain goes away, but it could be that you were too high to feel any pain, and the cause of the UTI has not been treated.
For these reasons I don’t recommend using any part or extract of neem to treat the UTI unless if you are willing to endure the sour taste and the disturbance that might happen to your stomach and gastrointestinal tract and the potential toxicity and sedation of any of the neem parts or extracts, and I don’t think that anyone has the capability to endure those harmful side effects.
Even in the areas where the neem trees grow, the natives of these areas do not use it to treat diseases like UTI or so, but they rather use it on their clothes or plants to prevent the insects from eating them. So, they rather use it as an insecticide.
Neem products are not appropriate during pregnancy.
Some neem constituents, extracts and products are associated with infertility, so take caution when using them.
The alkaloid content of Neem, though might be beneficial against some infections, causes toxicity.
I myself have seen a lot of alkaloid toxicity cases in the emergency department where patients suffered severe and irreversible kidney damage due to the consumption of herbal preparations that contained large quantities of alkaloid compounds.
You can look up alkaloid toxicity cases on the internet, and they are easily found because a lot has been reported.
Although Neem extracts have proven effective against bacteria in general and especially the UTI bacteria, there are some strains of the E. coli bacteria that are resistant to the effects of Neem extracts as this study shows.
Giving these extracts without considering bacterial resistance patterns to UTI patients might increase bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which is a growing problem already, worldwide.
Conclusion
In general, because it contains diverse numbers of compounds and each one of these compounds has its properties and characteristics, more studies and researches need to be done before we can benefit from the Neem tree.
The neem tree has the ability to treat a lot of diseases and one of them is the UTI, but it needs the intervention of pharmacists and scientists and doctors may be to make the best of this Neem tree.
Feel free to check our website KNOW AND TREAT UTI for articles similar to this one on UTI-related topics.
That is all from us now stay healthy and have a wonderful rest of your day.