China fad: Drinking your urine leads to good health, except for this guy
In the 1970’s you’d the hear the buzz: “The sweeping the nation,” so in China that is drinking your own urine. Of course, in the wake of this new trend, a senior citizen suffering from kidney failure is blaming his near fifteen year run on the excrement.
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Zhou Linhui, 88, started drinking his own pee in 1990, believing it would cure his ill health. He started to feel better so carried on drinking it. Doctors treating the man for kidney failure say this was a direct contributor to his illness.
Urologist Xiong Yu, who is treating Zhou, said: “Urine is a waste product, why anyone would think putting it back into the body is a good thing is beyond me.”
“There is no clinical or medical basis for using urine over a long period of time as a product for preventing and curing illness, or as a health supplement,” an investigative report in the People’s Daily said, citing squadrons of medical experts.
This bizarre fad is reportedly gaining popularity across China, with as many as 100,000 people swearing it keeps them fit and young, says a June 26 article profiling the story.
Called Urine therapy, the technique has been analyzed several times over the years. Back in 2006 The Independent began “For its advocates, it is a miraculous elixir that has replaced the morning coffee as their first drink of the day” before quoting experts who explained drinking your own urine won’t even keep you dydrated, “It’s like drinking saltwater.”
The Skepdic.com covered the trend earlier this year, but published the “warnings” as:
Common symptoms include diarrhea, itch, pain, fatigue, soreness of the shoulder, fever, etc. These symptoms appear more frequently in patients suffering long term or more serious illnesses, and symptoms may repeat several times.
In the same coverage as Zhou, Bao Yafu, 79, is quoted as well. He is the chairman of the China Urine Treatment Association and has been drinking urine for 22 years. Bao drinks three cups each day and washes his face with his urine. “I have never caught a cold in the past 22 years. “My eyes become brighter and there are no age spots on my face.”
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