Apr 8, 2025 07:03 PM
Drinking pee to improve health is an ancient practice – but the risks outweigh the evidence
https://theconversation.com/drinking-pee...nce-253353
EXCERPTS: What is the therapy these celebrities practice? Urophagia, also known as urine therapy, is the practice of drinking urine.
Whether the urine is your own, someone else’s or even obtained from an animal, people have been drinking pee as medicine for thousands of years. Most claims about urine therapy are based on anecdotes or ancient texts with no robust scientific evidence to support the benefits of urine therapy. There is evidence to show that drinking urine has a number of health risks, however,
In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, urine was used to treat asthma, allergies, indigestion, wrinkles and even cancer. The Roman poet Catullus believed urine helped to whiten teeth – possibly due to its ammonia content.
[...] Historically, drinking pee to treat illnesses may have made sense because of a lack of medical alternatives. But, as the urine-sipping celebrities above show, the practice is still followed today. ... However, there’s no scientific evidence to support any of these claims...
[...] research has found that urine naturally contains low levels of bacteria and research shows that bacteria can further contaminate the urine when it leaves the body. Drinking urine, then, can introduce bacteria and toxins into the gut and potentially cause further illness like stomach infections.
Urine becomes more concentrated when it comes out again – the kidneys may have to work harder to filter out the excess, putting extra strain on them... (MORE - details)
https://theconversation.com/drinking-pee...nce-253353
EXCERPTS: What is the therapy these celebrities practice? Urophagia, also known as urine therapy, is the practice of drinking urine.
Whether the urine is your own, someone else’s or even obtained from an animal, people have been drinking pee as medicine for thousands of years. Most claims about urine therapy are based on anecdotes or ancient texts with no robust scientific evidence to support the benefits of urine therapy. There is evidence to show that drinking urine has a number of health risks, however,
In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, urine was used to treat asthma, allergies, indigestion, wrinkles and even cancer. The Roman poet Catullus believed urine helped to whiten teeth – possibly due to its ammonia content.
[...] Historically, drinking pee to treat illnesses may have made sense because of a lack of medical alternatives. But, as the urine-sipping celebrities above show, the practice is still followed today. ... However, there’s no scientific evidence to support any of these claims...
[...] research has found that urine naturally contains low levels of bacteria and research shows that bacteria can further contaminate the urine when it leaves the body. Drinking urine, then, can introduce bacteria and toxins into the gut and potentially cause further illness like stomach infections.
Urine becomes more concentrated when it comes out again – the kidneys may have to work harder to filter out the excess, putting extra strain on them... (MORE - details)