Every now and then, a book catches my attention and it makes my jaw drop. This was one of them. “Urine Therapy: Nature’s Elixir for Good Health.”
Now, I’m not a doctor, I’m not a nutritionist either. I do know a bit about nutrition and am pretty sure I wouldn’t recommend it to my friends and family. Not according to these authors.
[Urine] effective treatments for acne, asthma, hair loss, indigestion, infections, migraines, warts, wrinkles, and many other common ailments.
I’ll be darned. Who would have thought.
If you are like most people, trained from their earliest years to regard urine as a mere waste product, the thought of using it for its healing powers may seem shocking. Yet urine has long played an important role in the holistic medical traditions of societies all over the world, and is even mentioned in the Ebers Medical Papyri of ancient Egypt. For centuries people have been availing themselves of urine’s incredible curative powers for ailments ranging from anemia to warts. Urine is free, sterile, and acts homeopathically to “prepare” the immune system.
Ah. It acts “homeopathically.” That explains a lot. Except for the whole “urine is a waste product and there’s a lot of gross stuff in it” part. I can’t believe people would not only purchase this book, but would actually drink urine.
So far it’s received four reviews, three “five star” and one “three star.” I checked out the “three star,” half expecting to see someone say, “Seriously? You’ve got to be kidding me?!?” but alas, this person felt the text was “Superficial and misleading, but some good practical tips.”
Her very short book, which can be read in an hour or two, breaks down into two parts. The first 50 pages are taken up with rather superficial introductory material in which the reader is given a wholly false idea of the kidneys, and in which absolutely NOTHING is said about the remarkable constituents of urine – its many hormones, vitamins, enzymes, minerals, proteins, etc., – although she finally does get around to mentioning Melatonin (a powerful natural tranquillizer) on page 147.
And more:
Others, who may need their hand holding, and whose fixed ideas about urine are so rigid that they need to be coaxed and jollied along, may find the Peschek-Bohmer a useful guide, but they will be left puzzled as to why urine works. A whole dimension of Urine Therapy has been totally ignored, one beautifully covered, for example, by van der Kroon, but I suppose we must be grateful for any book, no matter how superficial and misleading, which is basically positive and sets out to teach us at least something about this miraculous therapy.
I guess I’m beyond rigid because even with “hand holding,” you won’t find any of this “golden elixir” in any bowl but my toilet.
A Five Star reviewer says this book is “one of the best books on urine therapy on the market.”
If you have a chronic pain condition this is one of the best healing therapies to practice. This is not a bandaid therapy, it cures … and cures most dis-eases known to mankind. Our creator gave us the cure, our bodies create the cure 24/7 and its free !! Take advantage of this miracle and start practicing these healing protocols asap !! Spray on body, bathe on body, and drink up heal inside out. Congradulations you know a secret that has been kept from most of the world.
Another reader says:
Did you know that the best nutritional supplement in the world is something everyone can afford. In this book you’ll find what wonders come as you drink your urine! May sound strange and initially I found the idea a bit gory but this book convinced me it was worth a try. The results are absolutely unbelievable! Give it a try!
The Skeptic’s Dictionary has this to say about the practice:
Urine is a slightly acidic fluid which carries waste from the kidneys to the outside world. The kidneys have millions of nephrons which filter toxins, waste, ingested water and mineral salts out of the bloodstream. The kidneys regulate blood acidity by excreting excessive alkaline salts when necessary. The chief constituent of the nitrogenous wastes in urine is urea, a product of protein decomposition. Urea is, among other things, a diuretic. Average adult urine production is from one to two quarts a day. The bladder, where urine is stored for discharge, holds on average about 16-20 ounces of fluid, though the average discharge is about half that amount. In addition to uric acid, ammonia, and creatine, urine consists of many other waste products in minute quantities.
Being a waste product does not mean that a substance is toxic or harmful. It means that the body cannot absorb the substance at the present time. We might think of many of urine’s constituents as if they were leftovers from a meal. We could throw the excess food away or we could eat it later after diluting it substantially with water and putting it in the blender. With urine, unfortunately, we cannot ingest waste products in the form they had when first ingested.
For most people most of the time, one’s own urine is not likely to be harmful. However, it is not likely to be healthful or useful except for those rare occasions when one is buried beneath a building or lost at sea for a week or two. In such situations drinking one’s own urine might be the difference between life and death. As a daily tonic, there are much tastier ways to introduce healthful products into one’s blood stream.
So, there you have it. If we’re ever lost at sea for weeks at a time and dying of thirst, perhaps we can raise a glass together…
