Is Urine Sterile?

Discussion in 'Biology & Genetics' started by lixluke, Nov 29, 2005.

  1. lixluke Refined Reinvention Valued Senior Member

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    Normal urine is sterile. It contains fluids, salts, and waste products, but it is free of bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
     
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  3. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Ooookay. Thanks for pointing that out!
     
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  5. TheAlphaWolf Registered Senior Member

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  7. allisone417 i'll be in my room Registered Senior Member

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  8. valich Registered Senior Member

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    Urine contains toxic waste fluids like urea and some bacteria but is virtually "sterile." So there's virtually no harm in using it in cases of emergency. If you're floating on ocean with no source of fresh water, people have drank their urine to recirculate it.

    "A hydrated person will commonly urinate a clear, water-like urine, whereas a dehydrated person may pass a darker yellow or brown urine as is often observed the morning after a night's drinking of large quantities of alcohol."
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine
     
  9. Mickmeister Registered Senior Member

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    So where has the myth that it is gross and toxic come from in society?
     
  10. Billy T Use Sugar Cane Alcohol car Fuel Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, but it is better for longer term survival to mix it about 50/50 with sea water. Your kidneys can excrete much of the ingested salt. - I.e. your urine can approach the the salinity of sea water.* (Some sea birds can produce urine with considerably higher salt concentrations than the sea and drink nothing but sea water their entire life!)
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    *I forget the exact values (on the 50/50 also).
     
  11. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    That is probably just cultural. Fresh urine from a healthy person is perfectly safe to drink, indeed, some people drink it daily as part of their health regime believing that it can strengthen their immune systems and also to recycle certain elements thought to be 'lost' in the urine.

    I expect that urine eventually becomes toxic a number of hours after being vacated but this is because of the build-up of bacteria.

    And, from Wikipedia:
    In Siberia, to communicate with the spirits, the Koryak people drank the urine of another who has consumed fly agaric (an entheogenic mushroom that is occasionally fatally poisonous), or of one who has in turn drunk urine of like source. According to Koryak tradition, sometimes the urine of reindeer that had eaten fly agaric would be ingested -- although there are skeptics who claim that an animal would naturally avoid this mushroom because of its deep red color -- and reindeers are reported to lick the ground where users of fly agaric had urinated. The potency of the mushroom does not decrease significantly until around the seventh drinker, because the muscimol from fly agaric is essentially unaltered after being secreted from the kidneys. Not only does this conserve the mushrooms, but it also eliminates unpleasant side-effects caused by muscarine, as this does not pass through urine and only the initial ingestor must experience the unpleasant effects.[citation needed]

    In England, stale urine was used for cleaning and to flavor ale.
     
  12. spuriousmonkey Banned Banned

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    Kruikenzeikers (people that pee in pitchers) is the nickname of the people from my home city. In the old days the city was infested with textile industry. Lots of wool was processed. The people of Tilburg collected urine in pitchers. This was later sold and used to 'wash' the wool.

    On mondays no Urine was bought. This was because it contained too much alcohol.
     
  13. phonetic stroking my banjo Registered Senior Member

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    Wish I could sell my urine..!

    If you're in a survival situation and there's no potable water, you can give yourself an enema with the dirty water and absorb water that way. Much like a wine enema.
     
  14. Genji Registered Senior Member

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    The Romans washed their clothes in it!!!!
     
  15. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

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    Well, it certainly is gross. And liquid waste is often found in the same location as solid waste (feces), which is definately toxic and dangerous. And again, don't forget it is only "sterile" in a healthy person.
     
  16. Kumar Registered Senior Member

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    How drinking own urine can be healthful? Body may be trying to excrete the excesses.
     
  17. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    Below is a small snippet from this site: http://www.innerself.com/Health/urine.htm

    Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.), namesake of the Hippocratic oath, was the first in the Western world to record and teach the practice of uropoty (the drinking of urine). The theory of urine therapy states: In the excreted urine all the body's experiences -- physical and psychological -- are collected. Reintroducing the urine to the body forces the body's immune system to confront the same experiences a second time, which gives it a second incentive to deal with the problem.

    Urine functions as a nosode, a small impulse of disease that, when introduced to the body, triggers the healing powers of the immune system. From homeopathy the principle of "healing like with like" is well-known. Today's vaccinations work on the same principle: A small impulse of an illness is introduced to the body to trigger its massive defense mechanism. In the case of immunizations one can obtain protection lasting for decades; when using urine therapy a refreshment is recommended after one year, or sometimes after just half a year.
     
  18. Kumar Registered Senior Member

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    Yes but then, dose shouldn't be homeopathic.
     
  19. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    You mean, should be homeopathic. No, I guess it's not.
     
  20. redarmy11 Registered Senior Member

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    Are you one of these weirdos who drink their own piss, kul xil? Piss stinks, especially when you've been, er... out on the piss.
     
  21. Free_Matt_417 The CIA took my baby away Registered Senior Member

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    I'll save thousands on sterilizer when i start up my piercing joint.

    thanks
     
  22. Kumar Registered Senior Member

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    How you compared urine with homeopathic dose? Urine is not potentized but chemical/raw substance. Urine may show excesses in your body, which are excreted. How it will help to re-take those which are alreadyin excess? A diabetic may lose glucose in urine on hyperglycemia. How urine loaded with glucose will help on that urine uptake? However, if urine is potentized in homeopathic way and then taken, it may do something, if you feel homeopathic effects are possible. Isn't it so?
     
  23. tablariddim forexU2 Valued Senior Member

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    I never compared it, you did, and then I said I guess it's not a homeopathic dose. Anyway, I'm not a proponent of urine therapy, I'm just passing on the facts /rumours.
     

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