Dr Ajit Bhagwat
The director of IIT Chennai, Veezhinathan Kamakoti, recently triggered a controversy by making some statements about cow urine. He said:
*Cow urine has antibacterial and antifungal properties. He quoted a story of a sanyasi who successfully treated himself for high fever with cow urine. Urine can be used to treat diseases like irritable bowel syndrome.
This was followed by a few bizarre, unscientific, and misleading TV debates on this topic hosted by prominent TV journalists on leading English news channels. The debates featured vehement arguments for and against the medicinal properties of cow urine, with one anchor irresponsibly giving a religious angle to the discussion, labeling one panel as anti-Hindu. Unfortunately, the real issues were completely ignored.
It is a well-established fact that human and animal urine possesses certain antibacterial properties and contains hormones and compounds that can be used to produce life-saving drugs. Peer-reviewed journals have published credible data supporting these facts. Here are some key pharmaceutical uses of urine:
*Postmenopausal women's urine: Used to extract hormones like FSH and LH for infertility treatment.
*Pregnant women's urine: Used to produce the HCG hormone.
*Pregnant mares' urine: Used to manufacture estrogen hormones.
*Human urine: Used to extract urokinase, a potent clot-busting drug.
Similarly, human gastrointestinal excreta (feces) have also been found beneficial in specific medical treatments. Fecal transplants, where healthy feces are colonoscopically implanted into the bowel of a patient, are used to treat disorders like inflammatory bowel disease or pseudomembranous enterocolitis. These treatments aim to restore the bacterial flora in the gut to combat the disease.
Given these scientifically proven facts about human and animal excreta, the following key questions need rational discussion:
*Should you drink cow urine to derive its medicinal benefits?
*What about the urine of other animals, such as bullocks, buffaloes, cats, and dogs?
*Are there any risks or downsides to consuming human or animal urine?
*Does an example of one sanyasi getting rid of his fever establish causality between urine consumption and cure?
*Are there placebo-controlled trials documenting the clinical benefits of cow urine?
The answer to the first question is obvious: no. It's one thing to say that cow urine contains ingredients potentially beneficial for health and entirely another to claim that drinking cow urine cures diseases. For example, the fact that urokinase is extracted from urine and used as a clot-busting drug does not mean drinking urine will dissolve arterial clots. Urokinase must be extracted and administered intravenously to be effective. Similarly, the efficacy of fecal transplants does not imply that patients should consume fecal matter orally.
It is also likely that beneficial ingredients may be present in the urine of other animals, such as bullocks and buffaloes, but this must be rigorously tested before claiming that cow urine is unique. Another critical point is that urine contains harmful ingredients that can poison the body if consumed directly.
To establish causal relation between cow urine and cure of disease, larger randomised prospective placebo-controlled studies are needed.
The absence of such trials demonstrating the clinical benefits of cow urine in any disease, let alone irritable bowel syndrome, remains a glaring issue. The responsibility of conducting these trials falls squarely on the AYUSH community.
A rational and evidence-based approach is essential to separate fact from fiction in this matter.
(The writer is director, Cardiac Cath Lab and Interventional Cardiology, Kamalnayan Bajaj Hospital, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar).