Launched in partnership with TV presenter, author and women’s health advocate Cherry Healey, Utee was developed to support the estimated 1.7 million women in the UK living with chronic, recurring infections without long-term solutions.
Utee Protect capsules contain 300mg cranberry 50:1 extract, plus Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Lactobacillus reuteri, delivering 10 billion active probiotics per capsule in an innovative dual coating that removes the need for refrigeration.
Utee Clear powdered sachets further provide 2500mg D-Mannose and 500mg sodium bicarbonate, formulated to help flush bacteria and soothe bladder discomfort during a flare-up.
D-Mannose is a naturally occurring sugar found in fruits like cranberries and apples traditionally used to help stop E.coli bacteria, the prime suspect behind most UTIs, from sticking to the urinary tract and bladder wall.
The probiotic strains additionally work to ‘crowd out’ harmful bacteria within the urinary tract. Together the two active components hit UTIs at their root.
£600bn annual NHS drain
NHS General Practitioner Dr Anisha Patel informed guests at a Utee launch event in London last week that there were 200,000 UTI related hospital admissions annually in the UK, with £600bn spent on treatment each year.
Fellow GP Dr Raj Arora revealed there is a severe lack of medical training in this area meaning doctors can’t support women sufficiently when they are suffering recurrent UTIs.
She explained GPs’ solution will inevitably be antibiotics. But when bacteria (usually E. coli) in the urinary tract manages to survive a course of antibiotics, as they regularly do, that bacteria becomes “savvy” to that treatment and if it is not treated effectively the bacteria can embed itself into the wall of the urinary tract.
“The doctor gives stronger and stronger antibiotics but all that does is flush all the beneficial bacteria out and doesn’t treat the actual cause. This is not spoken about nearly enough,” said Dr Arora. “Many doctors don’t realise this can happen and you can’t detect it on a urine dip stick.”
She highlighted this is a major drain on the economy, the NHS, and a huge contributor to the wider antimicrobial resistance problem.
What’s more, Dr Arora noted women become more susceptible to UTIs during peri- and menopause when their estrogen lowers and their flora shifts.
The best solution at any age is prevention, she advised, with the maintenance of good urinary tract flora being an essential element.
Healey, a lifestyle documentary broadcaster, openly discussed her lifelong battle with recurrent UTIs, her dependence on antibiotics, and a near fatal experience when she was unable to get a prescription quickly.
“Working with Extracted to create Utee has been one of the most meaningful projects of my career. It’s something I wish had existed years ago, and something I truly believe can change women’s lives,” said Healey.
Supporting women at all stages
Husband and wife co-founders Dan and Toni Waterfall-Chapman launched Extracted in late 2023 with their flagship sleep aid supplement Sleepee, developed following Toni’s personal battle with insomnia.
Drawing on their previous e-commerce and marketing expertise, the duo quickly grew sales online and found their key demographic was older females which natural led to the development of a range of products requested by this audience including solutions for joint, eye, bladder, and cognitive health.
Toni said: “Extracted builds solutions around real problems, not trends. We are focused on the health challenges that people are often quietly struggling with.”
She explained the issue of UTIs was brought to their attention by Healey herself, and many of their own customers.
“With a lack of preventative long term solutions and medical misogyny, this became impossible for us to ignore.”
