Urophagia

Urophagia is the consumption of urine. There are various reasons that humans may consume urine. Urine was used in several ancient cultures for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes, practices which are still used by some people of these cultures today. In Western culture, these practices are known as urine therapy, a form of alternative medicine.

Other reasons for urophagia include attempting survival, if no other potable fluid is available, though numerous credible sources (including the US Army Field Manual) advise against it. Also, some people consume urine as a sexual activity, and members of at least one culture consume urine for ceremonial purposes.

Health considerations

Consuming one's own urine (or the urine of a healthy person, if participating in urolagnia involving urophagia) is relatively low in risk.^{[citation needed]} Bacterial infection of the urinating person's urethra, or disease in the person urinating may pose a risk. Elements of medications and dietary supplements can be excreted in urine, which can affect the person consuming the urine. Also, if urine comes into contact with the skin, it can cause a rash in sensitive individuals.

Salt content and dehydration

The main dangers are the high salt and mineral content. The high salt content usually does not pose a problem if the urine is sufficiently diluted, and not consumed in mass quantities. The effect of the high salt may be mitigated by drinking some water after consuming urine. Reducing salt intake will also make the urine less salty. The urine may be diluted if the person drinks some water an hour or so before producing the urine that will be consumed.

Urine should not be drunk when one is dehydrated. The kidneys, which filter the urine, concentrate salts into the urine. Drinking the urine will only make one reingest the salts that have already been excreted by the kidneys. For the first fifteen minutes after ingestion of any fluid, the thirst seems to be quenched, but in the case of urine and other salty liquid, after the body has absorbed the fluid, the thirst returns, stronger, due to the salt.

Bacterial contamination

The urethra contains bacteria, hence many urine therapy practitioners use mid-stream urine, in order to allow the first few seconds of urination to wash out the bacteria within the urethra.^[1] This is also why many physicians ask for a urine sample mid-stream.

Medication and supplements excreted within urine

Urine of persons who are ill may pose a risk to others who consume their urine.^{[citation needed]} If the person urinating has recently taken vitamin or mineral supplements or medication, elements of these can be excreted in urine, which may affect the drinker.

Flavor, color, and odor

Since artificial sweeteners are excreted in urine, consuming artificial sweetener (such as in diet soda) before engaging in urophagia can lend a sweet taste to the urine, which may be of particular interest to those performing the activity for sexual pleasure^{[citation needed]}. Consuming asparagus can cause the person's urine to have a distinctive odor.

Consuming beetroot can cause the person's urine to take on a red or pink color. This is known as beeturia.^[2]

If the taste of sugar is detected in an individual's urine, and it is known that artificial sweetener has not been consumed , this may be a sign of diabetes.

Reasons for urophagia

Alternative medicine

Main article: Urine therapy

The consumption and topical application of urine for health or cosmetic purposes originated in several ancient cultures, including those of India (cow urine being sacred) and China. In Western culture, these practices are referred to as urine therapy.^{[citation needed]}

Attempting survival

Numerous survival instructors and guides,^{[3][4][5][6][7][8]} including the US Army Field Manual FM 21-76 "Survival",^[9] advise against drinking urine for survival. These guides explain that drinking urine tends to worsen, rather than relieve dehydration due to the salts in it, and that urine should not be consumed in a survival situation, even when there is no other fluid available.

However, in some instances drinking urine has been documented to save lives. Aron Ralston used the technique when trapped for several days with his arm under a boulder,^[10] and Bear Grylls of the Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild drank his own urine while he was in the Outback of Australia.^[11] In 1815, several crew members of the American ship Commerce, including Captain James Riley survived a shipwreck off the coast of Africa by drinking their own urine. ^[12] Les Stroud on Survivorman advised against drinking urine, instead producing fresh water from urine using a solar still.^[13]

Sexual activity

See also: Urolagnia

Some individuals consume urine as part of sexual activity. Urophagia may be incorporated into BDSM activities, but sexual activity involving consumption of urine is not necessarily BDSM. Some may also consume urine as part of masturbation.

Ceremonial

The Koryak people of Siberia are reported to have used the psychoactive Amanita muscaria mushroom, commonly known as fly agaric, as a ceremonial entheogen.^[14] The active alkaloids are unchanged as they pass through the human body, allowing the urine to retain the intoxicating effects of the mushroom: those who drank the urine of those using the mushroom would experience the psychoactive effects, themselves. Tribesmen who could not afford the mushrooms drank the urine of those who could; tribesmen drank their own urine in order to prolong the experience; and tribesmen on trips carried their own urine with them. They sometimes concentrated their urine by partially freezing it and ingesting the unfrozen liquid.^{[citation needed]} R. Gordon Wasson has theorized that the mythological soma of the Vedic religion was also Amanita muscaria.

Execution

Pathan women in the North-West Frontier Province (1901–1955) of Pakistan during the Anglo-Afghan Wars used a method of execution involving urine, Pathan women urinated into prisoner's mouths.^[15] Captured British soldiers were spread out on the ground and fastened with restraints to the ground, then a stick or a piece of wood was used to keep their mouth open to prevent swallowing. Pathan women then squatted and urinated directly into the mouth of the man until he drowned in the urine, taking turns one at a time.^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]} This method of execution was reported to have been practiced specifically by the women of the Afridi tribe of the Pashtuns.^[24][25]

References

1. ^ Urinary Tract Infections in Adults, fact sheet at the National Institute of Health, publication no. 06–2097
2. ^ Mitchell, S.C.. "Food Idiosyncrasies: Beetroot and Asparagus". Drug Metabolism and Disposition. ASPET. http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/29/4/539.full. 
3. ^ water
4. ^ Tracker Trail - Mother Earth News - Issue #72
5. ^ EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE (tm) - A Survival Primer
6. ^ Five Basic Survival Skills in the Wilderness
7. ^ Survival Gear
8. ^ Wilderness Survival: Sea Survival - The Open Sea
9. ^ Water Procurement, US Army Field Manual
10. ^ Aron Ralston | Outside Online
11. ^ "Man vs. Wild" Kimberley, Australia (2007)
12. ^ King, Dean (2004). Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316835145. http://deanhking.squarespace.com/skeletons/. 
13. ^ Survivorman - Kalahari Desert
14. ^ The plant kingdom and hallucinogens (part I), Richard Evans Schultes, UNODC Bulletin on Narcotics 21 (1969), #3, pp. 3–16.
15. ^ George Devereux (1976). Dreams in Greek tragedy: an ethno-psycho-analytical study. University of California Press. p. 237. ISBN 0520029216. http://books.google.com/books?id=SD8AaffTDlUC&pg=PA237&dq=women+urinate+pathan&hl=en&ei=74CbTceVF6mx0QHvweHbAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=women%20urinate%20pathan&f=false. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
16. ^ John Masters (1956). Bugles and a tiger: a volume of autobiography. Viking Press. p. 190. http://books.google.com/books?ei=N5KbTYjeI8qJ0QHmufDIAg&ct=result&id=NhdbAAAAMAAJ&dq=Sometimes+they+would+peg+the+prisoner+out+and+with+a+stick+force+his+jaws+so+wide+open+that+he+could+not+swallow%2C+and+then+the+women+would+urinate+in+his+open+mouth+till+he+drowned&q=urinate. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
17. ^ Donald F. Featherstone (1973). Colonial small wars, 1837-1901. David & Charles. p. 9. ISBN 0715357115. http://books.google.com/books?ei=6YibTeKUHebf0QHMkbHhAg&ct=result&id=gzpnAAAAMAAJ&dq=capture+probably+meant+being+staked+out%2C+his+mouth+held+open+by+a+forked+stick%2C+the+native+women+taking+turns+to+squat+and+urinate+upon+him+until+the+London+cockney+or+the+Highland+laddie+died+by+drowning&q=urinate. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
18. ^ Charles Miller (1977). Khyber, British India's north west frontier: the story of an imperial migraine. Macdonald and Jane's. p. 359. ISBN 0354041673. http://books.google.com/books?ei=foGbTZesC6OB0QHh4c2qAg&ct=result&id=u-dtAAAAMAAJ&dq=Or+the+prisoner+would+be+pegged+to+the+ground+and+his+jaws+wedged+apart+with+a+stick%2C+so+that+each+woman+of+a+clan+could+squat+over+him+and+urinate+down+his+throat+until+he+drowned.+There+were+other+variations+on+these+themes&q=urinate. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
19. ^ Donald Sydney Richards (1990). The savage frontier: a history of the Anglo-Afghan wars. Macmillan. p. 182. ISBN 0333525574. http://books.google.com/books?ei=HISbTbP1McnE0QGhycjlAg&ct=result&id=UFBuAAAAMAAJ&dq=It+was+not+unknown+for+a+wounded+man+to+be+pegged+to+the+ground+and+his+jaws+forced+open+with+a+piece+of+wood+to+prevent+him+from+swallowing.+A+woman+of+the+clan+would+then+squat+over+his+open+mouth+until+he+drowned+in+her+urine&q=urine. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
20. ^ Charles Chenevix Trench (1985). The frontier scouts. Cape. ISBN 0224023217. http://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=thrust+into+his+mouth%3B+to+be+flayed+alive%3B+or+to+be+pegged+out%2C+his+mouth+open+into+which+the+women+of+the+tribe+urinated&btnG=Search+Books#hl=en&tbo=1&tbm=bks&sa=X&ei=SPWbTaz-FMbZgQf6o8j_Bg&ved=0CCcQvgUoAA&q=He+was+more+likely+to+be+disembowelled+and+castrated,+his+privy+members+thrust+into+his+mouth%3B+to+be+flayed+alive%3B+or+to+be+pegged+out,+his+mouth+open+into+which+the+women+of+the+tribe+urinated+until+he+drowned&nfpr=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=631d800680272d4. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
21. ^ H. S. Mahle (1985). Indo-Anglian fiction: some perceptions : including some lectures on Karnadʾs Tughlaq. Jainsons Publications. p. 24. http://books.google.com/books?ei=mn6bTcPaBIeZ0QG9udnMAg&ct=result&id=ijs6AAAAMAAJ&dq=Sometimes+they+would+peg+the+prisoner+out+and+with+a+stick+force+his+jaws+so+wide+open+that+he+could+not+swallow%2C+and+then+the+women+would+urinate+in+his+open+mouth+till+he+drowned&q=drowned. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
22. ^ John Clay (1992). John Masters: a regimented life. the University of Michigan: Michael Joseph. p. 62. ISBN 0718129458. http://books.google.com/books?ei=31mwTbD9LMLm0gHl6J21CQ&ct=result&id=oRdbAAAAMAAJ&dq=The+Pathans+customarily+mutilated+and+then+beheaded+any+wounded+or+dead+who+fell+into+their+hands.+Women+often+carried+out+these+operations&q=urinate. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
23. ^ John Masters (June 13, 2002). Bugles and a Tiger. Cassell Military (June 13, 2002). p. 190. ISBN 0304361569. http://www.amazon.com/dp/0304361569. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
24. ^ Robert E. L. Masters, Eduard Lea (1963). Perverse crimes in history: evolving concepts of sadism, lust-murder, and necrophilia from ancient to modern times. Julian Press. p. 211. http://books.google.com/books?id=NT8YAAAAIAAJ&q=Afridi+women+drown+their+victims+by+urinating+into+their+mouths,+which+are+pried+open+with+a+stick.&dq=Afridi+women+drown+their+victims+by+urinating+into+their+mouths,+which+are+pried+open+with+a+stick.&hl=en&ei=bOybTZapIs_TgQfM6cX7Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 
25. ^ Robert E. L. Masters, Eduard Lea (1963). Sex crimes in history: evolving concepts of sadism, lust-murder, and necrophilia, from ancient to modern times. Julian Press. p. 211. http://books.google.com/books?id=DKY1AAAAIAAJ&q=Afridi+women+drown+their+victims+by+urinating+into+their+mouths,+which+are+pried+open+with+a+stick.&dq=Afridi+women+drown+their+victims+by+urinating+into+their+mouths,+which+are+pried+open+with+a+stick.&hl=en&ei=bOybTZapIs_TgQfM6cX7Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA. Retrieved 5 April, 2011. 

External links

• Urine Therapy: Skeptic's Dictionary entry
• Urotherapy, fact sheet at the American Cancer Society