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Urine therapy
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In alternative medicine, the term urine therapy (also urotherapy, urinotherapy or uropathy) refers to various applications of human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, including drinking of one's own urine and massaging one's skin with one's own urine. A practitioner of urine therapy is sometimes called a uropath . There is no scientific evidence of a therapeutic use for urine. A chemical component of urine, urea, does have some well known commercial and other uses.
thousands of years, practitioners of urine therapy have believed urine to have many preventative and curative powers.
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In alternative medicine, the term urine therapy (also urotherapy, urinotherapy or uropathy) refers to various applications of human urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, including drinking of one's own urine and massaging one's skin with one's own urine. A practitioner of urine therapy is sometimes called a uropath . There is no scientific evidence of a therapeutic use for urine. A chemical component of urine, urea, does have some well known commercial and other uses.
History
For thousands of years, practitioners of urine therapy have believed urine to have many preventative and curative powers. Some of the earliest human cultures used urine as a medicine.
Rome
In Roman times, there was a tradition among the Gauls to use urine to whiten teeth. A famous poem by the Roman poet Catullus, criticizing a Gaul named Egnatius, reads:
India
A religious Sanskrit text called the Damar Tantra contains 107 stanzas on the benefits of "pure water, or one's own urine". In this text, urine therapy is referred to as Sivambu Kalpa, taken from the title of the ancient text, Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi. Here, shivambu can be translated as "the waters of Shiva", and the phrase refers to urine. This ancient Indian text suggests, among other uses and prescriptions, massaging one's skin with aged, concentrated urine. In the Indian ayurvedic tradition, urine therapy may be called amaroli.
Religious
Islam
In Sunni Islam, the Sahih Bukhari, which forms one of the six major Hadith collections quotes the Prophet Muhammad advocating drinking camel's urine as a medicine in several verses.
Sahih Bukhari Volume 7, Book 71, Number 590:
Sahih Bukhari Volume 8, Book 82, Number 797:
Alleged Biblical reference
Some advocates believe that the Bible recommends urine therapy. A verse in Proverbs advises: "Drink waters from thy own cistern, flowing water from thy own well."
Other cultures
In China, the urine of young boys has been regarded as a curative. In southern China, babies' faces are washed with urine to protect the skin.
The French customarily soaked stockings in urine and wrapped them around their necks in order to cure strep throat. Aristocratic French women in the 17th century reportedly bathed in urine to beautify their skin.
In Sierra Madre, Mexico, farmers prepare poultices for broken bones by having a child urinate into a bowl of powdered charred corn. The mixture is made into a paste and applied to the skin.
As in ancient Rome, urine was used for teeth-whitening during the Renaissance, though they did not necessarily consume their own urine.
John Henry Clarke
The homeopath John Henry Clarke wrote, "…man who, for a skin affection, drank in the morning the urine he had passed the night before. The symptoms were severe, consisting of general-dropsy, scanty urine, and excessive weakness. These symptoms I have arranged under Urinum. Urinotherapy is practically as old as man himself. The Chinese (Therapist, x. 329) treat wounds by sprinkling urine on them, and the custom is widespread in the Far East. Taken internally, it is believed to stimulate the circulation".
Modern claims and findings
Urine's main constituents are water and urea; the latter of which has some well-known commercial and other uses. Urine also contains small quantities of thousands of compounds, hormones and metabolites, including corticosteroids. One source claims that there is no scientific evidence of a therapeutic use for urine.
Urinating on jellyfish stings is a common folk remedy, but has no beneficial effect and may be counterproductive, as it can activate nematocysts remaining at the site of the sting.
Use as anti-cancer agent
Urine and urea have been claimed by some practitioners to have an anti-cancer effect, but scientific evidence does not support individual claims that urine or urea given in any form is helpful for cancer patients. In addition, the other chemicals in urine may have a negative health effect when ingested.
Public figures
In 1978, the former Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai, a longtime practitioner of urine therapy, spoke to Dan Rather on 60 Minutes about urine therapy. Desai stated that urine therapy was the perfect medical solution for the millions of Indians who cannot afford medical treatment.
Cameroon's Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono warned people against drinking their own urine, believed in some circles to be a tonic and cure for a number of ailments. "Given the risks of toxicity associated with ingesting urine", he wrote, "the health ministry advises against the consumption of urine and invites those who promote the practice to cease doing so or risk prosecution."
Among other modern celebrities, the British actress Sarah Miles has drunk her own urine for over thirty years, in claiming the belief that it immunizes against allergies, amongst other health benefits. Major League Baseball player Moises Alou urinates on his hands to alleviate callouses, which he claims allows him to bat without using batting gloves. Madonna explained to talk show host David Letterman that she urinates on her own feet to help cure her athlete's foot problem.
Death
On February 7, 2009, Gabriela Ascarrunz, 35, died from an infection associated with urine administered intravenously. Ascarrunz was admitted to a hospital for surgery for an intestinal obstruction. Fashion designer Monica Schultz, well-known in Bolivia and a friend of Ascarrunz's entered the hospital and introduced her own urine into Ascarrunz's intravenous line. This was discovered and rectified, but Ascarrunz died two days later.
See also
External links
- , Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, May-June 1999.
- , fact sheet at the American Cancer Society
- , J. Eldor, MD; originally published in Medical Hypotheses 48 (#4, April 1997), pp. 309–315.
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