When I was a child many moons ago, my mother gave me and my sisters a vile-tasting liquid vitamin called Juvenal (yes, spelled just like the name of the Roman poet). Mom assured us we’d grow up big and strong. I suppose we did, but I wonder if we would have sprouted any less without that dreaded morning ritual.
That unpleasant childhood memory came back to me when I read about a “modern-day” cure for what ails you. It is, as you know from the title, cow urine. NBC News offers an article cum testimonial by Vishal Gupta, of India. Gupta gave up his job to become a full-time practitioner of cow urine therapy after it cured his son’s chronic eye inflammation. He even “attended a cow medicine training school in the district of Kanchipuram, southern India, before launching a store selling products made from cow urine.”
Says Gupta:
Cow is the only animal whose everything has medicinal value. From milk and dung to urine, everything can be used for a medicinal purpose.
If you’re already feeling grossed out, it probably won’t help much to know that you don’t have to swig cow urine straight. One of Gupta’s patients, a 54-year-old jewelry-maker named Ajay Dube, cured his intestinal bloating by mixing two teaspoons of cow pee with herbs and berries.
So how yummy was it? Said Dube:
When I first tasted it, it was very bad but I got used to it in few days and in one month’s time my gas problem was over and also my appetite increased.
By the way, for those hapless readers who themselves remember Juvenal, here’s a blast from the past:
