CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A viral social media post is making the rounds. A man who runs an anti-vaccine website says the antidote to COVID-19 is urine therapy.
From social media, we have seen a lot of theories on how to cure COVID-19. The latest is urine therapy, which essentially means you drink your own urine.
Several people have tweeted a video of an anti-vaccine activist, Christopher Keys saying urine therapy is the antidote.
"The antidote we have seen now, and we have tons and tons of research, is urine therapy, and I know to a lot of you it sounds crazy, but God has given us everything we need," Keys said.
THE CLAIM:
Urine therapy can cure COVID-19.
OUR SOURCES:
THE ANSWER:
False, there is no scientific research that shows urine therapy can cure COVID-19. In fact, they say don't drink urine because it can have bacteria that can make you sick.
WHAT WE FOUND:
First, let's take a look at urine therapy.
According to Winchester Hospital in Massachusetts, Urine Therapy is a part of ancient medical and cultural practices in places like Egypt, China, or India. Proponents consider drinking urine as a treatment for a variety of ailments.
Winchester Hospital points out that some alternative medical practices believe urine therapy can cure ailments like asthma, acne, and cancer. Still, no medical evidence supports urine as an effective treatment for those illnesses.
The Food and Drug Administration does not list urine therapy as an approved Covid-19 treatment.
"There is absolutely no evidence that medicinal use of urine, in other words, drinking your urine as a way to treat COVID-19 or prevent COVID-19, has any efficacy," Dr. Kohli said.
Both Dr. Kohli and Dr. Robinson tell us drinking your urine will not treat COVID-19.
"We are not advising anyone to drink their urine to detox or treat COVID-19 infection," Dr. Robinson said. "It has not been proven to be helpful and, in fact, could be harmful to you, so we do not recommend that at all there is no science behind the fact that urine is going to boost your antibodies."
The doctors warn against drinking urine because it can contain bacteria that can make you sick.
"There are waste properties in urine, and it's not something that is designed for human consumption, in fact, it is opposite it's been something that our body is designed to release from the body to remove toxins," Dr. Robinson said.
"It can increase your risk for complications and infections for you to think about consuming your urine, and even though people have done it in the past, it doesn't make it scientifically backed therapy," Dr. Kohli said.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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