Urine therapy: Encyclopedia - Urine therapy

Urine therapy

Urine therapy is a specialized branch of alternative medicine. Any sort of oral or external application of human urine for medicinal purposes falls into this category.

Promoters of urine therapy believe urine to have many curative powers. Some cultures, especially Indian, have traditionally used urine as a medicine. According to one theory, this perhaps dates to a time when the Amanita muscaria mushroom was used as Soma in Vedic rituals. The psychoactive alkaloids of the mushroom are passed unchanged in human urine, leading to the surviving Siberian practice, especially among the Koryak tribe, of drinking the urine of an Amanita muscaria user in order to become intoxicated (what proponents of the mushroom/Soma theory ascribe to the Vedic "second filter"). The mixture may be further concentrated by allowing it to freeze. The resulting ice is then removed and the remaining liquid ingested.

Many other cultures consider the practice to be repugnant, even to the point of being taboo. In some circles the practice of urine therapy is called Shivambu.

Urine contains many vitamins, hormones and nutrients that are essential to the proper functioning of human body. However, it also contains metabolic waste by-products and small amounts of toxins such as ammonia and formaldehyde.

Critics of urine therapy note that there are no scientific studies which validate urine therapy. Urea, an ingredient in urine, may have some medical value, but urea is already an ingredient in some contemporary medicines. In recent times, the Port-a-John corporation of Utica, Michigan, USA has developed a filter to collect medically significant proteins from users of their chemical toilets. Some pharmaceuticals contain ingredients extracted from human or animal urine.

Urine therapy - Books on the subject

1. Your Own Perfect Medicine by Martha M. Christy
2. Golden Fountain: The Complete Guide to Urine Therapy by Coen Van Der Kroon
3. Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy by John W. Armstrong

Urine therapy - In fiction

• American Gods - Neil Gaiman (2001) -Brief mention

See also

• Drinking urine
• Shivambu

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Urine therapy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki