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| - Last Updated on May 5, 2023 by Aditi Gangal
Quick Take
Several social media posts claim that cow urine contains essential nutrients and is healthy for humans. We fact-checked and found the claim to be Half True.
There are research that shows cow urine indeed may contain beneficial compounds but at the same time there are multiple other research that shows that consuming urine can be very harmful to human health.
Our fact check findings suggest, cow urine on its own is not a medicine. Some of its compounds can be extracted and processed to be used in medicines. Drinking cow urine can hurt health.
The Claim
The debate over cow urine’s health benefit is nothing new in India. There are various blogposts, articles, social media posts and claims from people in influencing position about the benefit of cow urine. In recent days, several Twitter posts claim that cow urine contains important nutrients and its consumption can make humans healthy.
Fact Check
Can cow urine have health benefits?
No conclusive evidence. Cow urine, animal urine and even human urine has been advocated majorly by alternative medicinal practitioners in Africa and India for ages. Some research papers claim to find that urine has been associated with treating asthma, arthritis, allergies, cancer, indigestion, migraines, and infertility. A research paper published in 2015 shows that cow urine can be used alone or in association with other chemical compounds to prevent the development of certain diseases and enhance the effect of antibiotics.
Another research paper published in 2012 concludes that cow urine has the potential for controlling certain human diseases.
But on the other hand, there are research that has shown that urine therapy including cow urine can introduce multiple antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens in the body thereby causing serious illness.
We asked Dr P. Rammanohar, Research Director, Amrita School of Ayurveda about the potential health benefits of cow urine. To this, he said, ‘Not only cow’s urine or dung but the potential medicinal constituents of the excreta of many animals are described in classical Ayurvedic texts. We do get an indication from Ayurvedic texts that the ancient physicians felt that there are pharmacologically active constituents even in the urine of the cow. Premarin, a complex of conjugated equine estrogens manufactured by Wyeth for hormone replacement therapy in women, was originally developed by the Canadian pharmaceutical firm Ayerst, McKenna, and Harrison. Premarin was coined from pregnant mare urine, from which the estrogen complex was isolated.’
Dr Pallav Prajapati, our Ayurvedic expert, explains, ‘Medicinal use of cow urine has originated in India and has been patented by the U.S. for its beneficial properties and ability to be used as a bio enhancer. Cow urine has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-cancerous properties that can enhance the efficiency of ongoing treatment. However, people must never consume cow urine without professional guidance from a doctor. Drinking cow urine will not equally affect each individual. Only an ayurvedic doctor can tell whether cow urine will benefit or harm a person’.
The International Journal of Research in Ayurveda and Pharmacy published a review paper on cow urine in 2017. Authors of the paper noted down that cow urine contains multiple vitamins and minerals. However, the paper also noted various techniques that are prescribed in ancient Ayurveda literature to purify and detoxify a cow urine before using it for any medicinal purpose.
Is consuming cow urine healthy?
No, experienced medical professionals suggest that it is not healthy to consume cow urine directly. Despite some research showing that cow urine may contain medicinal properties, urine has toxins that can cause infection in the body. Dr Anthony Pizon, Chief of medical toxicology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center informed Reuters via email that “urine has antimicrobial properties and that historical evidence shows some consumed urine for medicinal purposes. However, people should not drink urine for medicinal purposes. Drinking cow’s urine in small quantities might not possess any harm but in excess can cause diarrhea, nausea, disruption of electrolytes, and vomiting.’
Pizon further informed that ‘drinking urine can expose a person to chemicals and drugs consumed previously.’ So, drinking it can interfere with the medication and affect ongoing treatment.
Recently, a research conducted by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute is doing rounds on social media. This research has grabbed attention of many media houses as well. This research paper published in 2022 in the Traditional Medicine Research (TMR) journal found that cow and bull urine contain at least 14 types of dangerous bacteria, including the Escherichia coli bacterium, which can cause stomach diseases in people.
Besides this, drinking urine can also cause dehydration by raising sodium level in the body. This can lead to sweating by releasing excess salt and water from the body.
Dr Kunal Gupta, MD, Emergency Physician at Accord Superspeciality Hospital, Faridabad, informs, “Cow urine consumption is not advised in allopathy as it is the source of contamination, by consuming daily either in its original form or through ayurvedic products. Even recent research done at IVRI found 14 bacteria in healthy cow urine including E. Coli (the most resistible bacteria for urinary infection). Daily consumption of urine may expose a person to daily contamination at any dose. Modern medicine believes in research, medicines, or procedures which have undergone decades of research.”
Can consuming cow urine help in critical diseases like cancer?
Not proven. There is some preliminary evidence about cow urine having compounds that can contribute to cancer treatment but the same has not yet been established as a medically approved course of treatment. As per a report released by Ministry of Health, India in 2016, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has received a US patent for one of the research that showed that cow urine distillate can have anti-cancer properties. This means that certain compounds of cow urine can be extracted and treated to make medicines.
Another research paper published in 2010 shows that ‘Cow urine has been granted US Patents (No. 6,896,907 and 6,410,059) for its medicinal properties, particularly as a bioenhancer and as an antibiotic, antifungal and anticancer agent. With regard to the latter, it has been observed to increase the potency of “Taxol” (paclitaxel) against MCF-7, a human breast cancer cell line, in in vitro assays (US Patent No. 6,410,059)’. However, this does not mean that in raw form cow urine will be able to treat cancer by targeting and killing cancer cells.
Dr Rammanohar believes that cow urine can be beneficial but not without its pharmaceutical processing. “Cow urine and dung are subjected to pharmaceutical processing before medicinal use,” he said. “It is quite possible that with advanced technologies, we can study the constituents of both cow’s urine and dung for active principles and develop more refined pharmaceutical dosage forms in the near future. But, I will never advice drinking cow urine directly without pharmaceutical processing.”
Doctors believe that such misunderstandings about the potential of cow urine can prove to be fatal if people stop their regular treatments in favour of urine therapy. Dr Naveen Sanchety, Oncologist says, “This is one of the most common questions I get from my patients. You need to understand that nothing treats Cancer other than chemotherapy. So far there is no documented evidence of cow urine treating Cancer.”
THIP Media take: Urine or cow urine is not a healthy drink. There is no conclusive evidence that makes it a substitute of medicine for any treatment. While there maybe some compounds in urine that can be extracted, processed and used in medicines – this itself does not qualify urine as a healthy drink. Rather, there are multiple harmful compounds present in urine that can cause serious health problems.
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