COW URINE (GAUMUTRA) FACTS

In Ayurveda, cow urine (Gaumutra) occupies a unique place and has been recognised as water of life or “Amrut”. In Sushruta Samhita, it has been described as the most effective substance of animal origin. In India, drinking of cow urine has been practised for thousands of years.

In Panchagavya Ghrita, it is one of the important ingredients. Panchagavya, a term used to describe a formulation constituted with five major substances like urine, milk, ghee, curd, and dung obtained from cow. All the five products possess medicinal properties and are used singly or in combination with some other herbs against many diseases. This unique kind of the treatment called as Cowpathy or Panchagavya pathy and it has been reported to be beneficial even for deadly diseases like diabetes, cancer, and AIDS.

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder characterised by hyperglycemia, glycosuria, hyperlipidaemia, negative nitrogen balance, and sometimes ketonemia. The widespread pathological changes leads to complications like retinopathy, microangiopathy, and nephropathy. Most of the oral hypoglycemic agents, currently in use, produce serious side effects like hypoglycemic coma and hepatorenal disturbances. Also safety of most of the presently used drugs is not established during pregnancy.

Cow urine has been granted US Patents (No. 6,896,907 and 6,410,059) for its medicinal properties, particularly as a bio enhancer and as an antibiotic, anti fungal, and anticancer agent. With regard to the latter, it has been observed to increase the potency of “Taxol” (paclitaxel) against MCF-7, a human breast cancer cell line, in in vitro assays (US Patent No. 6,410,059).

There are so many claims regarding the use of cow urine. Out of these the most important claim is regarding its anti diabetic and antioxidant activity, a few scientific literature’s are available to support this claim.

Hence, the present study was designed to validate the anti diabetic as well as the antioxidant effect of Gaumutra ark scientifically.