Urine therapy

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Urine therapy (urinotherapy, Amaroli) is a specialized branch of alternative medicine. Any sort of oral or external application of (human) urine for medicinal or cosmetic purposes falls into this category. A practitioner of urine therapy is called an uropath.

1 History
2 Criticism
3 Trivia
4 Further reading
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Promoters of urine therapy believe urine to have many curative powers. Some cultures, especially Indian, have traditionally used urine as a medicine. In Ayurveda its practise is called Amaroli. Urine has been prescribed in India for over 5,000 years for health benefits, as written in the Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi.

There are also accounts of drinking urine to prolong the effects of certain entheogenic experiences. ^{[citation needed]} Some psychoactive alkaloids are passed through the body unchanged in urine. ^{[citation needed]} The Koryak tribe of Siberia uses the Amanita muscaria mushroom in this way, drinking their urine during long ceremonies. They sometimes concentrate their urine by partially freezing it and ingesting the unfrozen liquid. ^{[citation needed]} A theory presented by R. Gordon Wasson states that the Koryak's use of this entheogen is linked to the mythological Soma. ^{[citation needed]} Proponents of the mushroom/soma theory believe that Soma in the Vedic rituals was in fact Amanita muscaria.

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" ^[1].

[edit] Criticism

Critics of urine therapy note that there are no scientific studies which validate urine therapy. ^{[citation needed]} However, medics have long known about the presence of hormone metabolites in urine^[2], including corticosteroids^[3]. These hormones when ingested or absorbed through skin have powerful anti-inflammatory effects^[4], which can explain many cases of improvement via such a therapy. However, as any hormone therapy, urine therapy has dire side effects^[5], the most obvious of which is the adrenal cortex dysfunction and early aging.

[edit] Trivia

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 in the short, medium and long term with ingesting urine, the health ministry advises against the consumption of urine and invites those who promote the practice to cease doing so forthwith or risk prosecution," said he. ^[6]
Urinotherapy was in vogue recently to improve well-being or as a last resort in severe illness in the former Soviet Union and in some post-USSR countries.^[7]
Former Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai practiced urinotherapy.^[8]
Many other cultures consider the practice to be repugnant, even to the point of being taboo.
Urinating on jellyfish stings has been commonly believed to be an effective folk remedy. However, such a practice usually has no beneficial effect on the stings, and in some cases may even be dangerous.^[9]
Urine contains many vitamins, hormones and nutrients that are essential to the proper functioning of human body. ^{[citation needed]} However, it also contains metabolic waste by-products and small amounts of toxins such as ammonia and formaldehyde. ^{[citation needed]}