Social media influencers blasted for urine-drinking trend slammed as a 'health risk'
Experts say there are major 'health risks' surrounding drinking your own wee after dimwits online posted a flurry of clips saying it had special healing properties
Boffins have blasted social media influencers for promoting a urine-drinking “health” trend.
The eggheads were forced to put out an alert to Brits telling them not to drink their own pee after dimwits posted a flurry of clips saying it has healing properties. It comes after adventurer Bear Grylls has been seen teaching his reality show guests to down wee as part of a survival technique.
Dipa Kamdar, a pharmacy lecturer at Kingston University, warns there are major “health risks” with the practice. She added drinking your own waste products can introduce bacteria and toxins back into the body which “potentially cause further illness like stomach infections”.
The expert said: “Social media influencers claim that urine has healing properties. There’s no scientific evidence to support any of these claims.”
Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Márquez practised urine drinking therapy to train for his 2009 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr – before he lost, reports the Conversation.
And former Indian prime minister Morarji Desai claimed a daily glass of the stuff was a remedy for many diseases and contributed to his longevity. The practice of drinking pee for “health benefits” is known as urophagia.
It stretches back thousands of years as some believe downing your own, someone else’s or even animal pee acts as “medicine” that strengthens the immune system. But boffs say most claims about urine therapy are based on anecdotes or ancient texts with no clear scientific evidence.
In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, urine was used to treat asthma, allergies, indigestion, wrinkles and even cancer. The Roman poet Catullus believed urine helped to whiten teeth – probably due to its ammonia content.
Urine is 95% water – with the rest mainly waste products including urea, which is made by the liver after breaking down proteins in the body.
British naturopath John W. Armstrong published a book in 1945 called The Water Of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy. He used the tome to claim drinking your own wee – and rubbing it into the skin – could act as a cure for major illnesses.
The China Urine Therapy Association claims drinking and washing with urine can cure constipation and skin sores. But experts brush off the recommendations as nonsense – and say taking a vitamin is a much safer and more sensible way to boost the immune system.
Other modern uses of wee in alternative medicine include cleansing and detoxification. Some fans of downing the yellow stuff also say it leads them to pass clearer urine and improves bowel functions.