History

The advent of the "New Age" has seen the revival of many bizarre "natural" therapeutic remedies. Among them, and rapidly gaining popularity, is Urine Therapy — the use of one's own eliminated waste water for healing purposes.

The ancient Greeks were known to use urine extensively to treat wounds, and for centuries European Gypsies used cow's urine to cure diseases of the kidneys. The longevity of yogis and Lamas of Tibet has been attributed to the drinking of their own urine and it was recommended by one 18th century French dentist as a mouthwash.

In England during the 1860s and 1870s, the drinking of one's own urine was a common cure for jaundice, and a former Indian prime-minister in the 1970s, stated on American television that he drank some of his own urine daily for health maintenance.

The development of knowledge of urine is an interesting story. Records indicate that Babylonian physicians (around 4000 B.C.) examined it sufficiently to note changes in colour. In old Sanskrit writings twenty different diseases were described, and Hippocrates recorded his observations made on the urine of patients with fever. Through succeeding centuries, uroscopy, the art of inspection of urine, became an accepted part of medical practice, and with it came uromancy.

The charlatans flourished, travelling the countryside with their flasks, diagnosing all kinds of diseases, and preying on the gullible. One of the "water doctors" who saw an oat grain in a urinal stated that the patient had eaten a horse.

In modern times, a main proponent of Urine Therapy has been John W. Armstrong, author of The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy. Rejected as unfit for military service during World War I, allegedly suffering from consumption, he was advised to seek the advice of a doctor. He was diagnosed as being catarrhal rather than consumptive and put on a regimen of sunshine, fresh air and nutritious foods. He gained nearly 30 pounds in the ensuing year. Despite the improvement, Armstrong was not satisfied, and recalling the Bible proverb, "Drink waters out of thine own cistern", fasted, and took to drinking his own urine. The treatment was claimed to be effective, he gained weight, his energy increased, and his skin was rejuvenated.

In 1918, Armstrong began to advise others and supervise their fasts and, according to his book, treated people suffering with gangrene, various types of cancer, diabetes, consumption, heart disease, Bright's Disease, bladder problems, malaria, fevers, wounds, burns, asthma and many other afflictions with Urine Therapy. As a bonus, Urine Therapy is the same for every type of ailment — no diagnosis being necessary.

In 1996, belief in the therapeutic benefits of Urine Therapy was given a boost with the publication of articles such as that which appeared in the The Manila Chronicle (May 8, 1996) headed, "Use of urine in healing gains more believers". The report from Ghana, East Africa, details the promotion of urine drinking and massage by one Dr. Kuesi Offei-Agyeman who runs the New Life Clinic in Accra. Trained at the Natural Therapy School in Jersey, Britain, and the School of Natural Hygiene in the US state of Texas, Dr Offei-Agyeman argues that just as a tree is replenished by its own leaves, his patients are restored to good health by their urine.

Regarded by conventional wisdom as an unpleasant waste product meant to be eliminated, "urine is a reflection of what you have in you" he explains. "If you eat eggs, meat and beans you will have these materials in you and they will make your urine taste bad. Potatoes, lettuce and carrots however will give you sweet tasting urine." Dr. Offei-Agyeman's treatment includes a strict vegetarian diet — somewhat antithetical to that of John Armstrong, the contradiction leading one to conclude that urine plays an insignificant part in the prescribed treatment, if any at all.

Included in the article was a dubious anecdotal testimonial from a patient who declined to be named, and concluded with a note of scepticism from Dr. Martin Mandara, the acting WHO representative in Ghana who commented: "It's too early to proclaim the curative powers of urine. I wouldn't really advise anybody to use it until somebody comes up with more scientific evidence".

Well there may or there may not be any evidence, but according to a Reuter's report in the Science/Health page of the April 20, 1997, Philippine Daily Inquirer, an Indian, Dr. G. K. Thakkar, chair of the Bombay-based Water of Life Foundation, said millions of people around the world had cured themselves of diseases with the centuries¬ old therapy of drinking urine. Referring to "mad cow disease" he says, "I am deadly confident that all those cows can be positively cured of the deadly disease by making them drink their own urine".

Thakkar's theory posits that the sick produce antibodies for fighting diseases and excess antibodies passed in the urine can be "recycled" to increase a person's immunity.

In February, 1997, Thakkar organised a conference on urine therapy which drew some 600 scientists, researchers and therapists to southern India. Many speakers at the conference claimed urine can be used to treat incurable diseases (if they are incurable how can they be cured?) including cancer. They also claimed that urine can alleviate the symptoms of AIDS.

New on the market is a book by Martha M. Christy, Your Own Perfect Medicine, available from Inner Glow Health Products, RRP $40 + $5. It is claimed by one book reviewer to be one of the best researched books ever written about the subject of urine therapy. He hails it as "... the most astounding proven natural miracle cure that medical science has ever discovered — and yet none of the incredible research findings on this incomparable natural medicine have ever been revealed to the public!" (Another conspiracy theory?)

Other enthusiasts include Beatrice Bartnett, a naturopathic chiropractor, and Margie Adelman, a massage therapist who, in their book The Miracles of Urine Therapy, extol the virtues of the therapy claiming it will "cleanse" the body of "toxins". Urine, according to the authors, is "the blood of Christ" and "a gift from your creator for your spiritual growth and physical well-being". Reading the list of side effects — nausea, vomiting, migraines, boils, pimples, rashes, palpitations, diarrhoea, uneasiness and fever, the cure seems to me to be worse than the complaint.


Theory

While repulsed readers are shaking their heads in disbelief, I hasten to add that in addition to urine, Armstrong also advocated a well-balanced diet of meat, fish, poultry, eggs, steamed vegetables, salads, fresh seasonal fruits, brown rice, and whole-wheat bread. Processed and highly refined foods were to be avoided. Whether Urine Therapy or a well-balanced diet was responsible for Armstrong's alleged successful cures is hardly a moot point.

The source of Armstrong's inspiration, Proverbs: 5:15, reads, "Drink waters out of thine own cistern¹,and running waters out of thine own well". Further, in Isaiah: 36:16 we read, "... eat ye everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink ye everyone the waters of his own cistern". According to Cruden's Complete Concordance, the only references to "cisterns" in the Bible refer to drinking water containers not the Vesica urinaria.

There is little doubt in my mind, that it is to these the text refers.


Practice

Drinking one's own urine.


Assessment

Before the public uncritically accepts such a dubious therapy, it would be advisable to ask whether or not there is any reliable scientific evidence to substantiate the claims. Then again, perhaps only a lay knowledge of the urinary system would suffice to obviate even that necessity. Let's take a look at the function of that remarkable organ — the kidney, as described in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.


It is the process of reabsorption which completely destroys any credibility that may be had in the efficacy of urine therapy. Most substances have what is called a kidney threshold level. If the concentration of a substance in the blood exceeds its kidney threshold level, the excess is not reabsorbed and is released into the urine as unwanted waste. Drinking one's urine therefore, is analogous to pouring water into an already full vessel — it's not needed and won't be accepted.

Furthermore, drinking urine puts things (waste products) back into the body that the body has already chosen to get rid of. That can include trace amounts of noxious chemicals the body has detoxified. How does it make sense to put them back in?

Therapies aside, urine does have some practical uses.

Certain animals use their urine to mark the boundaries of their territories, and in the January 27, 1995 issue of European, it was reported that, "Sweden is exporting synthetic wolf urine to Kuwait, where it is sprayed on roads to prevent camels colliding with cars". During the 1994 Winter Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, the same method was used to stop elks straying onto mountain roads.




References:

Armstrong, John W. 1971. The Water of Life; A Treatise on Urine Therapy (2nd ed.) Health Science press. Essex, England.
Bartnett, B. and Adleman, M. 1987. The Miracles of Urine Therapy. Margate, Fla.: Lifestyle Institute.
Cruden, Alexander. (Ed. C. H. Irwin, MA, DD., A. D. Adams, MA, and S. A.Waters.) 1985. Cruden's Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments. Lutterwort Press, Cambridge.
Edwards, Harry. 1996, A Piddling Matter, the Skeptic, 16(4):22-23. Australian Skeptics Inc.
Grossman, Richard. 1986. The Other Medicines. Pan Books Ltd. London.
Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1992. The Kidney. Vol. 6.
Fortean Times. Sidelines. May, 1996.
Kastner, Mark AL. 1993. Alternative Healing. Halcyon Publishing, La Mesa, CA.
Keeton, Prof. William T. 1967. Excretory Mechanisms in Animals. Biological Science. p.288 W. W. Norton & Co. NY.
Odell, Howard M. M.D. 1964. The Kidney: Its Diseases and Disturbances. The New Illustrated Medical and Health Encyclopaedia. Vol. 8. p.1168 Odhams Books, Long Acre, London.
Philippine Daily Inquirer. 1996. "Indian doc says urine can cure mad cow disease." April 20.
Raso, Jack. M.S., R.D. (Ed. Stephen Barrett, M.D.) 1994 "Alternative" Health Care, A Comprehensive Guide. Prometheus Books. Amherst, N.Y.
The Manila Chronicle. 1996. "Use of Urine in healing gains more believers." May 8, 1996.