Nearly 1 in 5 Urinary Tract Infections Linked to Contaminated Meat, Study Finds

Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health

Briana Mercola

Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.6 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Nearly 1 in 5 urinary tract infections (UTIs) are caused by E. coli strains that originated in contaminated meat, confirming what earlier research has shown
Poultry is the main source of these dangerous bacteria, with chicken and turkey accounting for more than 74% of meat-linked UTI cases, while all retail meats showed high contamination levels
These bacteria, known as extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC), survive processing and cooking to enter your body, where they colonize your urinary tract and can spread to your bloodstream
Overuse of antibiotics in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) fuels the growth of drug-resistant E. coli, creating infections that are harder to treat and more likely to require hospitalization
You can protect yourself by avoiding CAFO meats, choosing grass fed and regeneratively raised options, improving food and personal hygiene, and supporting urinary health with methylene blue, cranberries, and D-mannose

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Are you sure your next urinary tract infection isn't already sitting in your shopping cart?
0:05.0	Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go.
0:13.0	No reading required. Subscribe for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights.
0:18.0	Hello, and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom.
0:21.6	I'm Ethan Foster, and today we're examining evidence that a large share of UTIs are traced
0:26.8	to contaminated meat, especially poultry.
0:29.9	You'll hear what researchers found, why antibiotic use in industrial farming matters to you,
0:35.7	and the concrete steps you can take to lower your risk.
0:38.2	I'm Alara Sky, and we'll walk through the data in clear terms. UTIs affect more than
0:44.6	404 million people each year. New analysis of over 36,000 Escherichia Coley samples collected
0:51.9	in Southern California shows that nearly 18% of UTIs were
0:56.5	caused by bacteria that originated in food animals.
1:00.5	That means almost one in five infections likely began with what you brought home from the store.
1:06.6	The strains most often implicated are extrontestinal pathogenic E. coli, or XPEC.
1:12.8	These are not typical gut-only microbes.
1:15.3	They carry virulence factors that help them survive processing and cooking, then colonize
1:20.1	your urinary tract.
1:21.8	Once established, they can climb from the urethra to the bladder, and, in severe cases,
1:27.1	enter the bloodstream. That pathway
1:28.9	turns a common infection into a dangerous one, requiring aggressive care. Poultry was the primary
1:34.4	reservoir for these infections. Chicken and turkey accounted for more than 74% of meat-linked
1:40.2	UTI cases. Contamination levels across retail meats were high.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 17 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Briana Mercola, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Briana Mercola and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.