Are there any health benefits?
Well, auto-urine therapy, as it's known, is said to boost the immune system, cure migraines and other chronic conditions, stave off a cold and work wonders on eyesight problems. It's claimed that it can work wonders on skin conditions, such as eczema or psoriasis. You can apply it directly for athlete's foot, bee stings and jellyfish stings. And you can gargle it for toothache and gum disease. However, drinking wee is particularly recommended for its anti-ageing properties.


How does that work?
One simply drinks the mid-stream part of the first wee of the morning to retain one's youthful looks.

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[edit] History

For thousands of years[citation needed] practitioners of urine therapy have believed urine to have many preventative and curative powers and it has often been referred to as the world's oldest medicine.[citation needed] Some of the earliest cultures have traditionally used urine as a medicine.

[edit] Rome

In Roman times, there was a tradition among the Gauls to use urine to whiten teeth. A famous poem by the Roman poet Catullus, criticizing a Gaul named Egnatius, reads:[1][2]

Egnatius, because he has snow-white teeth, / smiles all the time. If you’re a defendant / in court, when the counsel draws tears, / he smiles: if you’re in grief at the pyre / of pious sons, the lone lorn mother weeping, / he smiles. Whatever it is, wherever it is, / whatever he’s doing, he smiles: he’s got a disease, / neither polite, I would say, nor charming. / So a reminder to you, from me, good Egnatius./ If you were a Sabine or Tiburtine / or a fat Umbrian, or plump Etruscan, / or dark toothy Lanuvian, or from north of the Po, / and I’ll mention my own Veronese too, / or whoever else clean their teeth religiously, / I’d still not want you to smile all the time: / there’s nothing more foolish than foolishly smiling. / Now you’re Spanish: in the country of Spain / what each man pisses, he’s used to brushing / his teeth and red gums with, every morning, / so the fact that your teeth are so polished / just shows you’re the more full of piss./

[edit] India

Written over 5000 years ago, a religious Sanskrit text called the Damar Tantra contains 107 verses extolling the medicinal virtues of urine.[citation needed] In this text, urine therapy is referred to as Shivambu Kalpa, taken from the title of the ancient text, Shivambu Kalpa Vidhi. Here, shivambu can be translated as "the waters of Shiva", and the phrase refers to urine. This ancient Indian text suggests, among other uses and prescriptions, massaging one's skin with aged, concentrated urine. In the Indian ayurvedic tradition, urine therapy may be called amaroli.

[edit] Other cultures

In China, the urine of young boys has been regarded as a curative. In southern China, a baby's face is washed with urine to protect the skin.

The French customarily soaked stockings in urine and wrapped them around their necks in order to cure strep throat. Aristocratic French women in the 17th century reportedly bathed in urine to beautify their skin.

In Sierra Madre, Mexico, farmers prepare poultices for broken bones by having a child urinate into a bowl of powdered charred corn. The mixture is made into a paste and applied to the skin.[3]

As in ancient Rome, urine was used for teeth-whitening during the Renaissance, though they did not necessarily consume their own urine.

[edit] John Henry Clarke

The homeopath John Henry Clarke wrote, "…man who, for a skin affection, drank in the morning the urine he had passed the night before. The symptoms were severe, consisting of general-dropsy, scanty urine, and excessive weakness. These symptoms I have arranged under Urinum. Urinotherapy is practically as old as man himself. The Chinese (Therapist, x. 329) treat wounds by sprinkling urine on them, and the custom is widespread in the Far East. Taken internally it is believed to stimulate the circulation".[4]

[edit] Modern claims and findings

Urine's main constituents are water and urea. Urine may also contain trace quantities of thousands of compounds, hormones and metabolites.[5] There is no scientific evidence of a therapeutic use for urine.[6]

Urinating on jellyfish stings is a common folk remedy, but has no beneficial effect and may be counterproductive as it can activate nematocysts remaining at the site of the sting.

[edit] Use as anti-cancer agent

Urine and urea have been claimed by some practitioners to have an anti-cancer effect, but scientific evidence does not support individual claims that urine or urea given in any form is helpful for cancer patients.[7] In addition, the other chemicals in urine may have a negative health effect when ingested.

In 1997, Joseph Eldor, of the Theoretical Medicine Institute in Jerusalem, published a paper in the fringe journal Medical Hypotheses suggesting that because cancer cells release antigens which appear in the urine, oral autourotherapy could spur the intestinal lymphatic system to produce antibodies against these antigens.[8]

[edit] Public figures

In 1978, the former Prime Minister of India, Moraji Desai, a longtime practitioner of urine therapy spoke to Dan Rather on 60 Minutes about urine therapy. Desai stated that urine therapy was the perfect medical solution for the millions of Indians who cannot afford medical treatment.

Cameroon's Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono warned people against drinking their own urine, believed in some circles to be a tonic and cure for a number of ailments. "Given the risks of toxicity associated with ingesting urine", he wrote, "the health ministry advises against the consumption of urine and invites those who promote the practice to cease doing so or risk prosecution."[9]

Among other modern celebrities, the British actress Sarah Miles has drunk her own urine for over thirty years, in claiming the belief that it immunizes against allergies, amongst other health benefits.[10]

Major League Baseball player Moises Alou urinates on his hands to alleviate callouses, which allows him to bat without using batting gloves.