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Fact check: Drinking urine could cause medical issues, does not improve vision

10
Nate Trela, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: Drinking urine will improve eyesight

A March 13 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows Alfredo Bowman, a self-proclaimed healer who went by the name “Dr. Sebi” before his 2016 death, endorsing a treatment.

"Dr Sebi Talks About Drinking his own URINE to heal his eyesight," reads the caption on the video.

The post was liked more than 1,000 times in about two weeks.

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Our rating: False

Doctors say there is no medical basis for a claim that drinking urine will improve eyesight and agree it carries several health risks.

Doctors do not recommend drinking urine

"Dr. Sebi," who referred to himself as a doctor despite having no medical degree, claims in the video that he had adequate vision but decided to try “urine therapy.” His regimen involved fasting until his urine was clear, then drinking it for several days. According to the video, he was briefly blinded during his regimen of consuming urine before regaining his sight.

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"Dr. Sebi" claimed to have identified herbal and natural cures for a host of medical conditions over a career that spanned several decades and saw him work with celebrities. However, he was also barred from making disease-specific claims about his medical treatments after being sued for consumer fraud by the State of New York. He died in jail in Honduras.

Experts contacted by USA TODAY unanimously dismissed the idea drinking urine can improve eyesight.

“There are absolutely no scientific studies that suggest that there is anything about drinking urine that could have any potential benefit to failing eyesight," Dr. Nicholas Volpe, chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Northwestern University's medical school, wrote in an email.

Dr. Karthik Ramani, a clinical assistant professor of nephrology at the University of Michigan, said that while consuming small amounts of urine is unlikely to be hazardous to a healthy person, it can contain waste products and pathogens. Consuming it more frequently or in larger quantities – or if a person has an underlying medical condition – carries the risk of dehydration or an infection.

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An article in the Pan African Medical Journal said written prescriptions for consuming or topically applying urine date back to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. It noted that in “an economically struggling area of the world,” where poverty makes accessing modern healthcare difficult, urine therapy is making a comeback. And that has led to antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center warns that the “very small amounts of vitamins and minerals” that may be found in urine are “not enough for a tangible health benefit” and identified similar risks.

Dr. Olivia Killeen, a clinical lecturer in ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Michigan, said knew of patients using urine as an eyewash and ending up with severe infections.

“There have been many cases of patients getting sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea or chlamydia in their eyes after putting urine in their eyes,” she said.

The social media user who shared the post said she was not sharing the video believing it was accurate, but rather "to see other people's point of views on what Dr. Sebi said."

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Drinking urine carries health risks, no sight benefits