At the end of the winter of 1996, something historic occurred. During that February in India, the First World Conference on Urine Therapy took place. Scholars around the world gathered together to discuss the age-old practice of "urine therapy." Although urine therapy had been around for thousands of years, it had fallen into obscurity over the last century. Now, urine therapy was officially back in business. So what exactly was this alternative practice that dealt with one?s own bodily fluid? And how does it help? What are the claims of effectiveness? What does the scientific and medical world have to say about it? How does it work? Does it work? These, were the questions that demanded discussion.
OUTLINE:
What is urine therapy?
Urine as a lifesaver:
What is in urine?
What happens when you consume your own urine?
A closer look at the details:
How to use urine therapy?
What are the claims by urine therapy advocates?
Examples of scientific hypotheses involving urine therapy:
?Urine, enzymes and heart diseases:
?Urine, urea and liver cancer:
So what can we conclude?
What is urine therapy?
The basic definition of "urine therapy" is using (your own) urine internally or externally as a way to aid or sustain your heath. Urine therapy, which includes drinking, injecting, massaging with-, and/or bathing in- urine, is an ancient practice that is used today, not only in times of sickness, but also in times of good health for preventive health maintenance. It has been claimed to have proven helpful in a great number of varying illnesses, ranging from a simple cold and a throat-ache, to tuberculosis and asthma, from minor skin problems such as itching to major skin problems such as eczema, psoriasis and even skin cancer. But you probably ask, "How can your own urine benefit your health? Besides, isn?t it toxic?"
Urine as a lifesaver:
During the NBC Nightly News on October 16, 1992, Tom Brokaw reported that, "In Egypt, rescue workers found a 37-year old man alive in earthquake rubble. He survived almost 82 hours by drinking his own urine. His wife, daughter and mother would not and they died" (
http://www.all-natural.com/urine.html ). We?ve all heard stories of individuals who have either lived or died by being trapped in places without food or water for days. In those stories, the survivors were always the ones that drank their own urine. The ones that died probably could not overcome the misguided thoughts that urine is an unhealthy waste product of the body. But it?s not; urine is simply a substance that the body does not need at the time, and a substance that the body secretes. And sometimes, it?s a lifesaver.
What?s in urine?
Urine, 95% of which is water, 2.5% of which is urea, and 2.5% of which is a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones, and enzymes, is not a toxic waste product. Urine is a blood byproduct and though it contains some body waste, it is non-toxic. In 1975, Dr. A.H. Free, published his book Urinalysis in Clinical Laboratory Practice, in which he presents a few critical nutrients found in urine:
Alanine, total ..... 38 mg/day
Arginine, total ..... 32 mg/day
Ascorbic acid ..... 30 mg/day
Allantoin ..... 12 mg/day
Amino acids, total ..... 2.1 g/day
Bicarbonate ..... 140 mg/day
Biotin ..... 35 mg/day
Calcium ..... 23 mg/day
Creatinine ..... 1.4 mg/day
Cystine ..... 120 mg/day
Dopamine ..... 0.40 mg/day
Epinephrine ..... 0.01 mg/day
Folic acid ..... 4 mg/day
Glucose ..... 100 mg/day
Glutamic acid ..... 308 mg/day
Glycine ..... 455 mg/day
Inositol ..... 14 mg/day
Iodine ..... 0.25 mg/day
Iron ..... 0.5 mg/day
Lysine, total ..... 56 mg/day
Magnesium ..... 100 mg/day
Manganese ..... 0.5 mg/day
Methionine, total ..... 10 mg/day
Nitrogen, total ..... 15 g/day
Ornithine ..... 10 mg/day
Pantothenic acid ..... 3 mg/day
Phenylalanine ..... 21 mg/day
Phosphorus, organic .....9 mg/day
Potassium ..... 2.5 mg/day
Proteins, total ..... 5 mg/day
Riboflavin ..... 0.9 mg/day
Tryptophan, total ..... 28 mg/day
Tyrosine, total ..... 50 mg/day
Urea ..... 24.5 mg/day
Vitamin B6 ..... 100 mg/day
Vitamin B12 ..... 0.03 mg/day
Zinc ..... 1.4 mg/day
(
http://www.all-natural.com/urine.html)
The following are the average quantities of various substances, in 100 milliliters of urine as reported in Introduction to Biochemistry by Dr. Pharon:
Substance Milligrams
1] Urea nitrogen
682.00
2] Urea
1459.00
3] Creatinin nitrogen
36.00
4] Creatinin
97.20
5] Uric acid nitrogen
12.30
6] Uric acid
36.90
7] Amino nitrogen
9.70
8] Ammonia nitrogen
57.00
9] Sodium
212.00
10] Potassium
137.00
11] Calcium
19.50
12] Magnesium
11.30
13] Chloride
314.00
14] Total sulphate
91.00
15] Inorganic sulphate
83.00
16] Inorganic phosphate
127.00
17] N/10 acid
27.80
Some other important urine constituents are:
Enzymes?
Amylase (diastase).
Lactic dehydrogenate (L. D. H.).
Leucine amino-peptidase (L. A. P.).
Urokinase.
Hormones?
Catechol amines.
Hydroxy-steroids.
17-Catosteroids.
Erythropoietine.
Adenylate cyclase.
Prostaglandin's.
Sex hormones.
(
http://www.hps-online.com/hurine3.htm)
What happens when you consume your own urine?
The small amount of toxins that are found in urine are not abundant enough to be toxic to the body. When you drink your own urine, it does not go directly to the blood stream. First it goes into the digestive system where its ingredients are sorted out. Then, the useful ingredients are recycled while the toxins are rejected. When the level of toxins becomes too high, the toxins stimulate the intestines into flushing themselves out to eliminate any stagnated excrements accumulated in the colon. Although we could probably filter out the toxins before drinking the urine, the toxins are needed because they stimulate a cleansing reaction in the body. Urine, which remember, is a byproduct of our blood, becomes more purified the more it is recycled. Thus, the cleaner the blood is, the cleaner the urine is, and vice-versa. And this is how urine therapy advocates conclude that urine therapy has a cleansing effect on the blood.
A closer look at the details:
The toxins of urine are also necessary to vaccinate and protect the body from future illnesses. The main theory behind urine therapy after all, isn?t that it straight out cures diseases, but instead, it is geared more towards building immunity to diseases, much like vaccinations. The small amounts of possibly toxic substances which can be found in urine largely seem to have a positive effect on the immune system. An important task of the immune system is to rid the human body of diseased or unusable substances that have developed during the course of an illness, and when these substances reach healthy tissue, the blood becomes stronger, the activity of leukocytes (white blood cells) increases, and the patient probably recovers. This phenomenon is known as auto-inoculation or self-vaccination and can be seen as mother nature's method of healing an illness without external intervention. Urine therapy, therefore, can be seen as a form of self-vaccination: certain bodily substances which have been removed from the body, some of which may have been produced as a result of illness, are re-introduced into the body in small amounts. These substances are re-absorbed into the blood through either the intestines or the skin, and the immune system is then given the chance to react appropriately.
How to use urine therapy?
Basic rules:
1. Midstream urine should be used, the exception being in a fast
where urine is being passed every ten to fifteen minutes. The
first flow should always be midstream.
2. Urine should be sipped like tea and not drunk like water. This will
prevent excessive problems in the form of loose stools and other
eliminative processes.
3. The first flow of the day is the most important and the best time
of the day to drink it is between three and four a.m..
4. Drink at least one liter of water per day.
5. Pungent and salty food as well as excessive protein should be
avoided.
6. Urine passed during the night before three a.m. should not be
used.
The quantity used is left up to the individual.
Initial adjustment phase:
1. Prepare the mind by making a resolve to at lease attempt the
process and examine your reactions, thoughts and feelings.
2. When you feel mentally prepared to attempt the actual practice,
collect some fresh urine and start by rubbing your hands with it.
Feel its texture, smell it, and see whether it can actually clean
your skin as well as some people claim. After about five minutes
wash it off with cold water and feel the skin to see whether the
urine has had an effect. Do not use soap after rubbing.
3. The next phase of adjusting the body and mind is to
put one drop onto the tongue. Taste and smell play an important
part in assessing its nature.
4. Eventually you should build up the quantity you take in until you
can drink a full glass of midstream urine and feel neutral in body
and mind. Then you will be ready to start more advanced curriculums.
(
http://www.hps-online.com/hurine4.htm)
What are the claims by urine therapy advocates?
So what does all of this information mean? According to urine therapy supporters, it means that urine is not only non-toxic, but it is also anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral. Supposedly, a renowned heart specialist of Bombay, India, once issued an appeal through a newspaper to members of the city, inviting them to write to him about their experience of urine therapy and especially about any cases of detrimental effects. The man?s purpose was to demonstrate that drinking urine is harmful to one?s body and ineffective medically. Shortly after, the man received hundreds of letters in response to his appeal; however, not a single letter of those hundreds reported negative effects.
Urine therapy advocates claim that to this day, despite the countless number of experiments performed using urine therapy, not a single case has been recorded finding unfavorable effects. In fact, they say that urine therapy might be a remedy for polio, rabies, and tuberculosis, AIDS, growths and cancers, fatigue, anemia, all sorts of urinary diseases, for weight-loss, colds and flu, candida, diabetes, heart disease, digestive problems, prostate trouble, arthritis, glaucoma, rheumatism, cataract, venereal disease, leukemia, malaria, diphtheria, chickenpox, scarlet fever, rheumatic fever, bronchial asthma, orchitis, bright's disease, jaundice, scurvy, dropsy, burns, rashes, warts, bed-wetting, menstruation trouble, kidney disease, mucus colitis, pyorrhea, gangrene, etc. (
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/1158/URINE.HTM). In fact, the list of diseases for which urine therapy is said to be effective is around 175 known diseases?? an extraordinary amount for any type of medical practice.
Examples of scientific hypotheses involving urine therapy:
?Urine, enzymes and heart diseases:
One of the useful components that urine contains are enzymes. Urine contains many enzymes, one of which is called Urokinase. While doing research on this enzyme, scientist found that Urokinase causes vasodilatation and resembles nitroglycerine in its ability to strengthen the bloodstream from the coronary artery to the cardiac muscle. Today, Urokinase is used in drug form and sold as a miracle blood clot dissolver for unblocking coronary arteries. The existence of enzymes such as Urokinase in urine, might explain why urine therapy is said to be effective against arteriosclerosis, heart attack, pulmonary embolism, etc..
?Urine, urea and liver cancer:
Another important ingredient that urine contains is urea. Scientists estimate that 25% of the urea in an adult finds its way into the intestines, where it is decomposed into ammonia by intestinal bacteria. Some of this ammonia ends up in the liver, where part of it is converted into urea, and another part is converted into glutamine, an extremely useful amino acid. Because of its healing effect on ulcers and wounds in the intestinal canal, glutamine is essential in the maintenance and construction of specialized tissue, such as in the brain, the small intestine and in the growth and activity of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal. The most important function of glutamine, though, is its ability to strengthen the immune system, and could be an important key in explaining why urine therapy is such a successful method of treatment. Another noteworthy application of urea can be found in the treatment of cancer by Professor Evangelos Danopoulos, who used urea in treating breast cancer, liver cancer, and several other kinds of cancer. Danopoulos noticed that the urea seemed to disrupt the ability of cancer cells to group together and apparently killed the cells by upsetting some of their normal metabolic activities. He experimented with injecting urea mixed with a saline solution in and around skin cancer and as a treatment for breast cancer. He conducted research on drinking urea dissolved in water in order to fight liver cancer, and reported positive results. In 1969, Danopoulos did a study on oral urea treatment in treating liver cancer. He gave 2-2.5 grams of pure synthetic urea to 18 patients with liver cancer, four to six times daily in capsules, syrup, or as powder. Out of those patients, eight had primary carcinoma and ten had tumors with liver metastases. In the primary-cancer group, two patients were alive after 57 and 36 months. In four patients, death seemed to be related to an interruption of urea treatment where they reportedly stopped their treatment after feeling better. And two patients died of apparently detached illnesses. The average survival period with the urea treatment was 26.5 months, five times greater than any previous reports, without or without the urea treatment.
In the metastatic group, the efficiency of urea treatment could not be judged by survival since the tumor tissue outside of the liver was more than likely not affected. While being on the urea treatment, all of the patients had a reduction of their liver enlargement. Six patients were still alive at the end of the study. Two patients who had liver metastases from breast and colon, were healthy at 19 and 13 months, respectively. One patient was in good condition after 17 months, and the other patient, who had a general disseminated disease and a moderate liver enlargement, was in fair condition at 40 months. After his study, Danopoulos concluded that the results justified formal trial of urea in primary liver cancer and also in metastatic cancer, since the results indicated a regression of liver cancer with oral urea treatment (Danopoulos ED. et al., 1974). Professor Danopoulos also began combining urea with creatine hydrate, another component of urine, and in this way, reportedly treated other kinds of cancers successfully.
So what can we conclude? ?
Although few people realize it, pharmaceutical companies have grossed billions of dollars from sales of drugs made from urine constituents. Today, research is happening nonstop in labs attempting to isolate specific elements of urine I order to make new drugs and new discoveries. Pergonal for instance, is a fertility drug that grossed $855 million in sales in 1992 (
http://www.biomedx.com/urine/). Elements like Urokinase and urea, which have become gods to the medical and cosmetic world, respectively, have started to make the marketing and medical population view man?s bodily fluids a little differently. Obviously, urine has some valuable components, but does that make urine therapy a valuable alternative medicine?
Not necessarily. One must be critical of the various intriguing claims made by urine therapy advocates on the world wide web. Why? Because very little intense, authentic medical information and research exist. Sure there are many people who have come forward with miraculous stories of having been healed using urine medically and in survival situations. There is the 1990 story of the four Sri Lankan commandos who had drifted in a boat for over a 1000 miles to Thailand after they had been ambushed at sea, and had survived by catching turtles and drinking urine. There is the story of the male cook in the Philippines who survived 14 days under the ruins of a collapsed hotel by drinking his own urine (
http://www.all-natural.com/urine.html). There is the story of the 92-year-old grandmother who is cured of gangrene, and the young man who is cured of tuberculosis? but that?s all the advocates have to offer for evidence of the efficacy of urine therapy? stories. Unless this information is being held back to the public for some reason, there is no hardcore scientific and medical evidence. Of course, the efficiency of urine therapy is difficult to study because most people would probably not want to participate in such a study, which leaves the world to continue to wonder, "Just how plausible are those claims?"
One thing that we must learn is that urine is not in fact "useless" and "an offensive waste product." We should lose our foul prejudices about urine? but to go as far as swearing that urine is the Savior of all medicine, is as deranged as saying those (in)famous two words?? "Got urine?"
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