Paresh Rawal urine therapy: A nephrologist explains why you should stay away from it

“Urine therapy, urophagia, or urotherapy, is a traditional practice based on the assumption that there could be good bacteria in the urinary tract. It is almost like the good bug in faeces whose utility has been proved in faecal transplants. This is done to restore a healthy balance of gut bacteria, which can be disrupted by various factors like antibiotic use, certain diseases, or even diet. However, no research has found this efficacy in urine bacteria,” says Dr Anil Kumar B T, HOD and Senior Nephrologist and Chief Transplant Physician, at Gleneagles BGS Hospital, Kengeri, Bengaluru.

The myth about urine being sterile likely dates back to a study of urinary tract infections (UTIs) conducted back in the 1950s. During this study, samples of urine that showed no signs of UTI were labelled “negative.” What many practitioners forget is that urine also contains bad bacteria and waste products that have been filtered out of the bloodstream for a reason.

What research says

According to the American Cancer Society, “available scientific evidence does not support claims that urine or urea given in any form is helpful for cancer patients.” Recent studies have shown that urine does in fact contain bacteria that could be harmful if ingested.

How can drinking your own urine impact the body?

“What we must understand is that urine is excreted because the body doesn’t need it. Drinking urine reintroduces concentrated waste products into your system which forces the kidneys to filter them out again, putting undue pressure on the kidneys,” says Dr Kumar.

The urine is 95 per cent water, and five per cent of toxins, urea and creatinine. “Now your kidney is filtering creatinine but you add that expelled creatinine back into your body. It can be more harmful than useful,” he explains.

On practitioners claiming that they are consuming very small amounts of urine, sometimes as low as 5 ml, which is safe, Dr Kumar argues that drinking even small amounts regularly only ends up raising toxins in your body. “Urine is refuse and contains a lot of bad bacteria too which raises the risk of all kinds of infections in your body,” says Dr Kumar. Since health benefits are not proven, why can’t this amount be consumed with other beverages and electrolytes?

Additionally, drinking your own urine could interact with medicines that you may already be taking for existing health conditions. They generate byproducts which get reintroduced into the system, blunting the edge off the drug use itself. “Also the urine that you are collecting is not sterile once it leaves the body as it can get easily contaminated,” he adds.