Where Did the Idea of Treating Cancer by Drinking Urine Come From?

Cow urine (gomutra), a surprising alternative-medicine product with growing demand, is being tried for cancer and other diseases. In our country, seeking healing by drinking urine briefly appeared under headlines such as "she tried to treat breast cancer by drinking her own urine" or "camel urine," without much impact. In India, however, it is widespread and has become a full-fledged alternative-medicine trade.

What is urine?

Urine is a usually sterile bodily waste/by-product fluid formed when kidneys filter blood, collected through the ureters in the bladder and discharged through the urethra. It is pale yellow and generally mildly acidic. Human urine mainly contains water (91% to 96%), urea, creatinine, uric acid and organic solutes with trace enzymes, carbohydrates, hormones, fatty acids, pigments and mucin, and inorganic ions such as sodium (Na +), potassium (K +), chloride (Cl-), magnesium (Mg2 +), calcium (Ca2 +), ammonium (NH4 +), sulfates (SO42-) and phosphates (such as PO43-).

Is a Sacred Cow's Urine Sacred Too?

In India's Bhayander region, liters collected from hundreds of cows are filtered, bottled and distributed nationally and even abroad for high-priced sale.

Believing nature has a cure for everything, some crudely recommend gomutra for all diseases, including cancer, diabetes, hypertension and psoriasis, finding a substantial market in India.

Not all cow urine in India is used for healing; it is tried for other purposes too. Some is used for cleaning: KEM hospital, for example, is cleaned with it daily. Others drink it for weight loss. This interest is presumably also related to regarding cows as sacred.

Once collected, cow urine is filtered eight times through a cotton pouch and distilled until no ammonia remains to extend shelf life. Use within two years of bottling is recommended.

The Reality

Advocates claim numerous reports and studies since the start of the century support urine's health benefits. Trials are theoretically possible: give one group this experimental treatment and the other placebo and measure whether drinking urine is therapeutic. Starting the study might be difficult and an ethics committee might find it strange, but theoretically it seems possible. So where are the "countless" studies? Clinical trials of urine therapy cannot be found because none exist! Even advocates lack the courage or willingness to verify these claims. They are not scientific in the first place: urine of animals considered sacred or given sacred meaning is believed to heal, and the subject is not opened to debate.

We face yet another absurd commercial reality of alternative medicine. When people truly begin believing false, baseless claims, their lives are put at risk.