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Gold Coast, October 21 (The Conversation) Urine therapy (or urology) is a long-standing practice based on the notion that urine can be drunk, bathed or otherwise used to bring about good health and even cure certain diseases.
As unusual as this sounds to most people, it’s an idea that persists even today. Like most things of this nature, it takes a life of its own online. But is there any evidence that urine therapy works?
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Cut to the chase, no. Urine is waste and should be excreted from the body.
early origin
Before modern medicine, various cultures had innovative ways to manage health. Early Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, Aztecs and Romans reportedly used urine to treat various ailments, such as healing war wounds or whitening teeth.
There is some logic to these practices. For example, if clean water is not available, the wound may be washed with urine. Or in the absence of a gas mask, a urine-soaked rag can be used to filter out the dirt during a chlorine attack.
Historically, these uses have only been justified when no medical alternatives were available. Nonetheless, some people today continue to recommend the use of urine for various ailments.
With our current health and treatment options, there is no justification for any form of urine therapy. And there is no scientific evidence that drinking urine or doing any other urine therapy is beneficial.
In all modern settings, there are more hygienic and more effective solutions than urine therapy – no matter what disease or problem is being addressed.
If you’re seeking therapeutic benefit from a compound found in your urine, it’s better to get it over the pharmacist’s counter than from a toilet cup!
What’s in the urine?
Urine is excreted from the kidneys as the kidneys filter the blood, retaining substances the body needs and expelling waste products as urine, which is stored in the bladder until we urinate.
Urine is 95% water. The rest of the ingredients include urea (2%) and creatinine (0.1%)—breakdown products of muscle and protein metabolism—as well as trace elements of various salts and proteins.
Urea is a safe organic compound that is naturally produced during protein metabolism. Urea-based formulations can be found in skin and nail softening lotions, acting as effective moisturizers and helping to improve the skin’s barrier function.
However, although urea is present in urine, its concentration is too low to provide any therapeutic benefit.
In addition to urea and creatinine, more than 3,000 different compounds are found in urine. This means that, as we learn more about the urinary system, future screening for various health problems, including cancer, may be obtained with a simple urine test.
Could urine therapy be harmful?
In some cases, public interest in urine therapy has been so strong that the government has had to ban proposed urine-based “health drinks.”
The truth is that excreted urine can be very harmful. The body can remove waste from its system in several ways, mostly through urine, feces, and sweat.
This means that urine may contain environmental toxins and other harmful substances that your body works hard to remove. Some drugs are also excreted in the urine, so drinking it builds up toxic levels of those drugs. In some cases, urine can also contain pathogenic bacteria that, if ingested, can cause severe diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, upset stomach, and infection.
No, it is not recommended to urinate on a jellyfish sting. This has the potential to cause greater pain by aggravating the stingers and inducing them to release more venom.
Even drinking urine in survival situations is not as useful as it is often touted. While it may make sense to return fluid to your system, reintroducing excreted salts at the same time is not beneficial for hydration.
Also, since dehydration causes you to not produce much urine anyway, drinking urine is unlikely to be a viable option in a survival situation.
Is urine “sterile”?
In most cases, only a very small amount of bacteria is excreted in the urine. But the idea that urine might be sterile is just a myth. The word sterile means “completely clean, free of dirt and bacteria”.
Our bodies are full of resident bacterial colonies that maintain our health and assist with our daily functions. This means that most of our bodies are not sterile, and the bladder is no exception.
High levels of bacteria are often associated with urinary tract infections. Still, a growing body of research has identified a variety of healthy bacteria living in our bladders that can be excreted in the urine of healthy people.
Peeing in the shower is also contraindicated, as it can lead to infection if the urine comes into contact with a cut or wound on the leg. The practice can even make conditions like overactive bladder or incontinence worse by making our brains associate water flow with the “need to pee.” This especially affects women because their pelvic region anatomy is not designed to pee standing up.
When standing, the muscles may have difficulty contracting and relaxing normally, and may even slow the flow of urine. This means the bladder may not empty completely and increases the chance of infection.
Most importantly, urine therapy has no scientifically backed benefits. If you need specific treatment, you should talk to your doctor rather than turn to urine-based leads.
If you accidentally drink urine, call your local poison information center for advice. (conversation)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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