牛尿长期以来一直被那些练习“阿育吠陀”的人声称具有许多有益健康的好处，“阿育吠陀”是一种替代的整体医学系统，其教义源自印度教经文，其起源可追溯到 2000 多年前的印度。
印度兽医研究所 (IVRI) 进行的研究发现，健康奶牛的尿液样本中含有 14 种有害细菌。 引起胃部感染的大肠杆菌最常被检测到。
阿育吠陀涉及草药、医用油和矿物质的混合物，以及严格的饮食习惯和瑜伽和冥想练习，被许多西方人视为伪科学。
但根据 2017 年的一份报告，至少有 77% 的印度人使用阿育吠陀产品，自 Covid-19 大流行以来，这一数字预计还会进一步增长。
该行业价值 78 亿英镑，谷歌快速搜索显示了一系列主要的阿育吠陀公司的产品广告。
印度最大的 Ayurvedic 公司 Patanjali 以 50 便士的价格出售一种含有瓶装牛尿的药物，承诺“治疗湿疹、控制糖尿病和癌症”。 另一个品牌 Easy Ayurveda 为客户提供有关如何蒸馏尿液的详细说明，声称它可用于治疗从麻风病到哮喘的多种疾病。
臭名昭著的是，在印度毁灭性的 Covid-19 第二波浪潮中，印度执政的印度人民党 (BJP) 的几名议员甚至建议其选民喝牛尿以避免感染病毒。
IVRI 的发现可能不会令世界各地的许多科学家和医生感到震惊，但它们再次引发了人们对印度阿育吠陀行业监管不力的质疑，并认为它可能弊大于利。
It was a surprise how many Indians were shocked by the study’s findings – drinking cow urine was found to be significantly harmful to human health.
The research carried out by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) discovered urine samples from healthy cows contained 14 types of harmful bacteria. Escherichia coli, which causes stomach infections, was most commonly detected.
Cow urine has long been purported as having a host of health-giving benefits by those who practise ‘Ayurveda’, an alternative, holistic medicine system that derives its teachings from Hindu scriptures and can trace back its roots in India more than 2,000 years.
Involving a mixture of herbal medicines, medical oils and mineral substances, as well as adherence to a strict diet and often the practice of yoga and meditation, Ayurveda is considered a pseudoscience by many in the West.
But at least 77 percent of Indians use Ayurvedic products, according to a 2017 report, with this figure expected to have grown further since the Covid-19 pandemic.
The industry is worth £7.8 billion, and a quick Google search displays a host of major Ayurveda firms advertising products.
Patanjali, India’s largest Ayurvedic firm, sells a medicine containing bottled cow urine for 50p which promises to “cure eczema, control diabetes and cancer”. Easy Ayurveda, another brand, provides customers detailed instructions on how to distil urine, claiming it is useful against a host of conditions from leprosy to asthma.
Infamously, during India’s devastating Covid-19 second wave, several parliamentarians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even advised their constituents to drink cow urine to avoid infection from the virus.
The findings from the IVRI might not come as a shock to many scientists and doctors around the world, but they have again raised questions of India’s poorly-regulated Ayurveda industry and the belief it might be doing more harm than good.
Ayurveda’s critics do agree that there are compounds and medicines used in the ancient practice which can play a pivotal part in modern medicine today.
As early as 300 BC, there are records of Indian Ayurvedic physicians using the seeds of the velvet bean plant to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
The seeds contain high levels of levodopa, an amino acid that was found to be an effective dopamine replacement agent and is now considered the gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s patients.
“There are many medications within Ayurveda that are effective that have been adopted into western medicines,” explains Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, the Founder and Director of the One Health Trust, a leading public health research organisation headquartered in Washington DC and Delhi.
“Ayurveda has phenomenal potential but it can’t be evaluated adequately by a western, reductionist approach. It is a systemic approach, the ultimate level of personalised medicine and relies on a physician who can treat your needs, specifically.”
