Urine Therapy by Luke Cichon Image from

“ Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.” – The Book of Proverbs 5:15. More than 3 million Chinese drink their own urine in the belief it is good for their health, according to the Xinhua news agency.

Urine  95 percent water, 2.5 percent urea, 2.5 percent mixture of minerals, salts, hormones, and enzymes.  Non-toxic (germ exception.)  Blood by-product.  Drugs are made from urine constituents.

Urine Therapy  Refers to one of several uses of urine.  The purpose is the prevention or curing of sickness, enhancing beauty, or cleansing the bowels.  Methods include: straight and steaming hot, mixed with juice, served over fruit, sublingual drops mixed with water, urine baths (very popular among modern Japanese women), and enemas.  Nothing it won’t cure!

Some Basic Rules  Midstream urine is the “good stuff.”  Sip like tea, don’t drink like water.  The first flow of the day is the best.  Urine passed during the night before 3 am should not be used.  Drink plenty of water.  Avoid salty foods.  Chinese Association of Urine Therapy warning.  Diabetics – taste better?

The Origins  Hindu religious rites, over 4,000 years ago.  Spread to other regions of the world (especially Asia) as well as into modern naturalist movements.  “Gift of the Cow” – healing properties of cow dung and urine mentioned in Hindu texts.  Thailand.  The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy by John W. Armstrong, 1945.

The Water of Life  To resolve life-threatening disease conditions, drink every drop of your urine and neither eat nor drink anything else until you are completely well.  Deemed successful in cancer, massive infections, and heart conditions.  The 4 R’s – Replenishment of vital tissues, Reintegration, Refinement, and Re-filtering of anti-bodies and other immune substances.

How do we test this? (I’ll take volunteers.)  Controlled, clinical trials.  Longitudinal studies (too little control, tons of confounding, extraneous variables).  Ethics questions, volunteers needed.  Medical community reluctant to trials due to basic medical knowledge (i.e. the obvious stupidity of the practice is clear to a first-year medical student.)  Long-term use – chronic renal failure?

(Lack of) Evidence  “There is no scientific evidence that shows urotherapy to be an effective cancer treatment. There is no valid evidence that urine or urea administered in any form has any beneficial effect for cancer patients.” – official statement by the American Cancer Society.  “No controlled scientific studies proven effective.” – wholehealthmd.com  Immunity argument – invalid.  Joseph Eldor, M.D. – did a ton of research on cancer patients, process proved controversial and ineffective.  Theoretical Medicine Journal.  The Medical Community – conspiracy theories of an evil empire.

Why does this practice persist?  Testimonials.  Placebo Effect.  Religious history and connotations.  Dr. Burzynski.  Extreme situations given as common examples. Family in Egypt. Family in Egypt. Special Forces. Special Forces.

Conclusion – “It’s just a matter of taste.”  Absolutely no scientific evidence indicating any effectiveness whatsoever.  The “lots of nutrients and minerals” argument – wouldn’t you rather just take a multi-vitamin?  Non-toxic – but potentially dangerous during times of sickness or infection.  In most instances, drinking urine will neither harm you nor help you. Why would you do it?