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^[1]

In the Indian ayurvedic tradition, urine therapy may be called amaroli. Another name is Shivambu Kalpa, taken from the title of the ancient text Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi. Here, shivambu can be translated as "the waters of Shiva", and refers to the urine.

Contents 1 Urine 2 Uses 3 Research 4 References

Urine

Urine is produced by the kidneys, and plays a vital role in maintaining homeostasis by removing excess water, electrolytes such as sodium, chloride, potassium, and calcium ions, urea and other metabolites from the blood. Urine excreted by healthy kidneys is sterile.

Uses

Human urine has energising and strengthening properties which make it most useful for treating many deficiencies.^[2] Although it can be used externally as a baldness cure or as a cure for trembling hands or persistent itching, it is probable that is is most usual medicinal use is as a drink.

Drinking your own urine is a excellent cure for scurvy,dropsy and jaundice.^[3]

Research

Urine's main constituents are water and urea. However, it contains small quantities of many hormones and metabolites,^{[4] [5]} including corticosteroids.^[6] Urea has been claimed by some doctors to have an anti-cancer effect.^[7] In addition, the other chemicals in urine might have some effect if ingested. In 1997, Joseph Eldor, of the Theoretical Medicine Institute in Jerusalem, published a paper suggesting that because cancer cells release antigens which appear in the urine, oral autourotherapy could spur the intestinal lymphatic system to produce antibodies against these antigens.^[8] Human urine is normally relatively free of bacteria, since the bladder itself is normally a sterile environment, and drinking small amounts of one's own urine is unlikely to be seriously harmful.^[9]

References

1. ↑ How to become a uropath
2. ↑ Urine Therapy introduction
3. ↑ The many uses of urine therapy
4. ↑ Urine Therapy, Jeff Lowe
5. ↑ Alan Broughton, Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, January 2004.
6. ↑ An Investigation into the Determination of Corticosteroids in Urine. I. The Determination of Corticosterone-like Substances, S. L. Tompsett, Journal of Clinical Pathology 6
7. ↑ Urotherapy, fact sheet at the American Cancer Society.
8. ↑ Urotherapy for patients with cancer, J. Eldor, Medical Hypotheses 48
9. ↑ True or False: It's Safe to Drink Your Urine