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2. Urine Therapy
Bear Grylls, adventurer and host of television survival programs, has advocated drinking one’s own urine for survival, in extreme situations when there is no water available and you are dehydrated. Many survival experts disagree with this advice, saying that even in this scenario drinking your own urine will not help with survival and could actually make you worse.
From the diet perspective, people have been drinking urine because they believe it contains medicinal properties. In Mexico, it has been offered as an alternative anti-cancer therapy. There is no scientific evidence that urine has medicinal benefits or anti-cancer properties.
In fact, although urine is mostly water — approximately 95 percent — it contains the body’s waste by-products: creatinine, urea, chloride, sodium, potassium and other waste chemicals, such as the breakdown products of medicines. The body removes these wastes for a reason.
While creatinine and urea are not toxic if ingested in small quantities, they are toxic in large amounts. As the urine contains toxins and excess chemicals that the body has opted to get rid of, it is best not to regularly drink your urine. Some parasites, such as leptosporidia, can also be spread by the urine. You should especially not drink other people’s urine if you wish to avoid catching their diseases.
Heat exhaustion vs. heat stroke can have overlapping symptoms. Be prepared and know what they are, so you can prevent heat-related illness.
