Featured, Health
By Benprince Ezeh
THE thought of drinking urine may likely occur if a person is trapped in a mountain top or stranded in a desert. But it has been gathered that some decades ago, some people were drinking their urine, believing that it has medicinal value.
The ancient Romans believed that urine from Portugal could cleanse their mouths and whiten their teeth.
In 1944, British naturopath, John Armstrong, claimed that drinking urine was the “perfect medicine”. Researchers have also found very small quantities of hormones, vitamins, and antibodies in urine. However, there is no evidence that these ingredients are present in large enough quantities to improve health.
Urine is a powerful diuretic, which means that it can cause the body to expel more salt and water. While some people use diuretics to lower blood pressure, other strategies are usually safer. Moreover, no research has found that drinking urine can lower blood pressure or otherwise improve heart health.
Kayleigh Oakley, a 33-year-old yoga teacher from Newington, Kent, claims that drinking her own urine has given her relief from a number of long-term health issues, including autoimmune disorder, Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, and chronic pain condition fibromyalgia.
She tells Press Association that she started drinking her own pee – which some people call “urine therapy”, but is also known as urophagia – two years ago. “I heard that urine can reset the immune system, promote general good health, and is good for the skin,” she says. “So thought I would give it a go.”
Now, not only does she drink a jar of fresh wee (urine) every day, she also uses cotton wool to dab it all over her face – which she claims keeps her skin “glowing”
Leah Sampson, a 46-year-old woman told The Sun that drinking her own urine helped her lose half her body weight.
Leah said that weighing almost 120kg left her desperate for a fix – which led her to wonder whether urine could help. “My friend sent me a YouTube video link of the ‘urine’ therapy, I stood up in the bathtub, urinated into my hands, and drank it. I noted immediately that I ingested too much sodium and vowed to begin removing sodium from my diet immediately,” she said.
Now she not only drinks urine, but also gargles it in the mornings when she brushes her teeth and uses it as eye drops. But before everyone rushes off to try this apparent cure-all, just remember doctors really don’t recommend it.
Another woman, Faith Canter, 39, revealed earlier this month she started drinking urine to help with an insect bite. Faith, who’s originally from Aberdeen, but now lives in Portugal, said she tried drinking her own wee after an allergic reaction to a mosquito bite caused her eye to swell up.
She says it “felt a little disgusting” at first, but the bite healed within three days. “I have continued to drink some of my urine every morning since and I’m being bitten far less than ever before. When I am bitten, they never swell or itch, they are just tiny little pinpricks,” she said.
With all these acclaimed advantages, Felicita Ogbu, a doctor based in Ukraine said it’s the worst thing any human being would do. “There’s no scientific evidence to support claims that drinking urine is beneficial. On the contrary, research suggests that drinking urine can introduce bacteria, toxins, and other harmful substances into your bloodstream. It can even place undue stress on your kidneys. “Urine is composed of fluid and waste products that your body doesn’t need. Your kidneys work as filters, removing excess water and cellular by-products from the bloodstream. This waste is sent down to the bladder as urine,” Ogbu said.
She continued, “Water makes up 91 to 96 percent Trusted Source of your urine. The rest comprise salts, ammonia, and by-products produced during normal body processes. “Your urinary tract extends from your kidneys to your urethra. You have two kidneys, one on each side of the body. The kidneys send urine down to the bladder through two muscular tubes called ureters. When your bladder is full, nerve endings send a signal to your brain that it’s time to find a bathroom.
“When you empty your bladder, urine exits the body through a small tube called the urethra. The urethra is home to some types of bacteria. Normally, these bacteria don’t cause any problems, unless they grow out of control,” she said.
Ogbu urged members of the public not to drink their Urine. “Drinking urine isn’t usually good for you. But what if you’re stranded on a desert island? Can drinking your own urine save you from dying of dehydration?
Although it makes for a dramatic movie scene, this is just a myth. Drinking urine when you’re dying of dehydration would be about the same as drinking seawater Urine contains concentrated salts and minerals. To process salt, your kidneys require a certain amount of water. To compensate for increased salt intake, you’d have to pee out more water than you take in from urine. This would actually accelerate the dehydration process,” she said
Another doctor, Emmanuel Enang, said that it would amount to one killing him/herself by Drinking urine. “The body is home to many different colonies of healthy bacteria. Your urinary tract contains different types of bacteria. These are harmless unless they start growing out of control. When urine passes through the urinary tract, it becomes contaminated with bacteria.
“Drinking urine, whether it is your own or someone’s urine, introduces bacteria into your system that can cause gastrointestinal problems or other infections. It contains waste products that have been filtered out of your bloodstream. Although they’re called toxins these waste products aren’t exactly toxic. They are, however, highly concentrated and your body is trying to get rid of these because if they stay in the body, they do harm,” he said.
Enang noted that drinking urine reintroduces concentrated waste products into your system, which forces the kidneys to filter them out again, causing unnecessary strain.
– March 28, 2020 @ 16: 00 GMT /
Tags: Medical doctors warn against drinking of urine
