Cow urine

Cow urine, gomutra or gōmēz is a liquid by-product of metabolism in cows. It has a sacred role in Zoroastrianism and some forms of Hinduism.

Urophagia, the consumption of urine, was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes; urine drinking is still practiced today.^[1] Cow urine is used as medicine in some places of India, Myanmar, and Nigeria. While cow urine and cow dung have benefits as fertilizers, the proponents' claims about its curing diseases and cancer have no scientific backing.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Usage

Cow's urine historically used as a treatment in Indian Ayurvedic medicine. A sick man is held over a cow's hindquarters so that the cow's urine streams onto his face.

Folk medicine

Cow urine

Some Hindus claim that cow urine has a special significance as a medicinal drink.^[7][2] Among other usage, urine therapy is used for the medicinal purposes as a system of alternative medicine popularized by British naturopath John W. Armstrong in the early 20th century based on the metaphorical misreading of the Hebrew Biblical Proverb 5:15.^[8][9] His widely sold book inspired the writing of Manav mootra (Gujarati: Urine therapy; 1959) by Gandhian social reformer Raojibhai Manibhai Patel, and many later works, which often reference Shivambu Kalpa, a treatise on the pharmaceutical value of urine. However, according to medical anthropologist Joseph Alter, the practices of sivambu (drinking one's own urine) and amaroli recommended by modern Indian practitioners of urine therapy are closer to the ones propounded by Armstrong than traditional ayurveda or yoga, or even the practices described in Shivambu Kalpa.^[8]

According to 1971 study by NASA, the urine is an aqueous solution of greater than 95% water, urea 9.3 g/L, chloride 1.87 g/L, sodium 1.17 g/L, potassium 0.750 g/L, creatinine 0.670 g/L and other dissolved ions, inorganic and organic compounds.^[10][11] The purported medicinal benefits of cow urine lack scientific substantiation and rigorous empirical evidence. Claims suggesting that cow urine can cure various ailments or possess unique therapeutic properties are not supported by robust clinical trials or research.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Cow urine is also used in Myanmar and Nigeria as a folk medicine.^[12][13] In Nigeria, a concoction of leaves of tobacco, garlic and lemon basil juice, rock salt and cow urine is used in an attempt to treat convulsions in children.^[13] This has resulted in the death of several children from respiratory depression.^[14]

As a floor cleaner

A floor-cleaning fluid called Gaunyle is marketed by an organisation called Holy Cow Foundation.^[15] Maneka Gandhi, Women and Child Development Minister, has proposed that Gaunyle be used instead of Phenyl in government offices.^[16] In May 2015, Rajendra Singh Rathore, Medical and Health Minister of Rajasthan, inaugurated a ₹40 million (US$470,000) cow-urine refinery in Jalore.^[17][18] The refinery was set up by Parthvimeda Gau Pharma Pvt. Ltd. which produces a floor cleaner called Gocleaner.^[18]

In organic farming

Jeevamrutha storage cans

Gomutra is used as a manure for production of rice.^[19] Jeevamrutha is a fertilizer made from a mixture of cow urine, cow dung, jaggery, pulse flour and rhizosphere soil.^[20]

See also

• Cattle in religion and mythology
  • Camel urine, drunk by the Muslim Prophet Mohammad as medicine
  • Insect tea, from the droppings of insects used in Southeast Asia as the scientifically-unproven traditional medicine
  • Kopi luwak (civet coffee), expensive coffee from the partially digested coffee cherries from the dung of civet animal
  • Panchagavya, Sanskrit word for the five cow-derivatives
  • Prophetic medicine, drinking of camel urine by Mohammad as medicine

• Alternative medicine
  • Alternative cancer treatments
  • Aqua omnium florum, use of water distilled from cow-dung as medicine in the Western World
  • Cow Hugging Therapy
  • Stool transplant, from one person to other as therapy in modern medicine