There have been a wide variety of health fads over the years – but this latest trend is one of the strangest. People around the world have started using cow urine for its purported health properties.
Yes, it sounds weird. But does cow urine actually work? Is there any scientific basis for it? Let’s take a closer look today at the health benefits of cow urine, also known as Gomutra.
Gomutra is the Use of Cow Urine for Therapeutic Purposes
Gomutra is a Sanskrit word that refers to the use of cow urine for therapeutic purposes. It’s part of ancient Indian (Ayurvedic) medical practices.
With gomutra, the urine of a pregnant cow is thought to be particularly special. This urine is believed to contain special hormones and minerals that can be used for powerful health benefits.
Outside of Ayurveda, cow urine is also used in Hinduism, where it’s often sprinkled to provide a spiritual cleansing effect. It’s also thought to have a special significance as a beverage.
Purported Health Benefits of Gomutra and Cow Urine
Ayurvedic medicine practitioners believe that the use of cow urine and gomutra can lead to powerful human health benefits, including the treatment of leprosy and cancer.
Gomutra is also mixed with cow milk to treat anemia, or it’s mixed with black pepper, yogurt, and ghee to treat fever.
To treat epilepsy, Ayurvedic medical practitioners mix neem bark, vasaka bark, kurilo bark, and kaner leaves.
Basically, Ayurvedic medicine believes that cow urine can be mixed with herbal concoctions and natural extracts to treat a variety of illnesses, diseases, and conditions.
Use of Gomutra Outside of India
Gomutra is found in ancient medical practices outside of the Indian subcontinent. In Myanmar and Nigeria, for example, it’s used as a folk medicine.
Nigerian traditional medical practitioners mix cow urine with tobacco, garlic, lemon basil juice, and rock salt in order to treat convulsions in children. Unfortunately, this practice has also led to the deaths of several Nigerian children. This led to an official warning from the Nigerian state government stating “Don’t use cow urine to treat infant epilepsy” as “many babies have died from cow urine medication”.
There’s a US Patent for Cow Urine-Based Drugs
In 2002, a US patent was issued to a group of scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. These scientists created an antibiotic using a distilled mixture of cow urine.
The drug purportedly worked as a bio-enhancer, which means it enhanced the anti-microbial activity of antibiotic and antifungal agents, helping your body fight back against infections more effectively.
Then, in 2010, researchers acquired another US patent for a gomutra based drug. After receiving the patent, the scientists argued that the patent validated their claim that gomutra has anti-cancer properties. This drug specifically claimed to prevent oxidative damage to DNA.
There Are Cow Urine Beverages Sold in India
Want to drink orange and lemon-flavored cow urine? You can!
In 2009, a company in the city of Kanpur, India created a beverage called Goloka Pay, which is a cold drink that contains 5% distilled cow urine. The beverage comes in two flavors: orange and lemon.
In addition to cow urine, the beverage contains tulsi, brahmi, and other herbs.
You can buy plenty of other cow urine-based supplements and beverages online today. See the bottom of this article for more information.
Household Uses for Cow Urine
Cow urine isn’t just used as a beverage or health supplement. It can also be found in various household products.
In India, certain soaps, shampoos, and other cosmetic products are made from gomutra, for example. It’s also used as a floor cleaner or as an organic farming aid. Gomutra is often used as a manure in the production of rice, for example.
Or, some farmers combine gomutra with custard apple leaves and neem leaves to serve as an environmentally-friendly pesticide.
There’s been a big push in the organic farming movement towards gomutra as it’s seen as an effective replacement for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
What’s the Scientific Evidence Behind Gomutra?
Large-scale human studies on the use of gomutra for health benefits are virtually non-existent.
In one study from 1975, researchers gave cow urine to mice and found that it led to death. A similar study was repeated on dogs in 1976 using a concoction similar to the one found in Nigerian folk medicine. That study led to hypotension as well as death.
Meanwhile, other studies have shown that cows can pass infectious diseases through their urine. A study from 2001 published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry showed that there were prions in the urine (in a detectable amount) from cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
Darul Uloom Rules that Cow Urine is Unlawful Among Muslims
Darul Uloom is the highest seat of education in Islam. This past week, somebody asked the Darul Uloom in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, India about whether or not it was okay to take cow urine-based supplements (he was specifically asked about Patanjali products).
The Darul Uloom ruled that any products which had “declared contents of urine of cow” were considered najayaz under Islamic code. Other Patanjali products were okay to use, but those with cow urine inside were not okay.
Indian Cow Urine Business is Booming
Despite the lack of major scientific evidence, cow urine is considered a hot commodity in India. Borneo Bulletin recently covered a study where three attendants were working “around the clock” in a cow shed near New Delhi where they collect approximately half of the 15 to 20 liters of urine produced by their cows every day.
These attendants then sell the distilled urine from their female cattle for a high price in India: it currently sells for the same price as milk.
Oddly enough, one of the biggest problems with the cow urine supply industry is figuring out a catchment system for the urine: it’s tough to predict when cows will urinate. The three attendants working around the clock claim they only catch about half of all urine released by the cows every day.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced new programs to help protect India’s cow population – including financially supporting industries that take advantage of the byproducts of cows, even their waste.
In the Borneo Bulletin article linked above, researchers interviewed Sunil Mansinghka, chief coordinator at a cow-focused research organization, who said,
“Around 30 remedies can be prepared at home with cow urine. It’s our foremost ambition to reach the elixir to countrymen.”
How to Buy Cow Urine Supplements
Interested in buying cow urine supplements? It’s easier than you think – especially if you’re visiting India in the near future, where you’ll find cow urine sold on store shelves
Alternatively, western believers in cow urine can purchase bottles of gomutra supplements from eBay and other online retailers for under $20 USD.
Supplements come with names like Gomutra Arka or GoSeva Gomutra Pure Filtered Cow Urine. The supplements come with benefits like “attracts divine consciousness” and “helps in spiritual healing”.
Ultimately, there isn’t a lot of western scientific evidence supporting the health benefits of cow urine – but cow urine/gomutra believers clearly don’t care.
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