Can Urine, Faeces, or Animal Parts Cure Ailments?

Chinese medicine is infamous for prescribing exotic body parts of endangered species: tiger penises, shark fins, rhino horns etc., as cures for a variety of ailments.

In other instances, urine or faeces of specific animals are prescribed as cures.

In this article, I want to walk you through the thinking methodology I use while evaluating such claims.

The claim I want to specifically examine today is: Can Urine Cure?

Below are some facts to help us arrive at a logical conclusion.

1) What did we learn in biology about the nature of urine?

Urine is waste that is discarded by the body. The body doesn't discard useful material. For instance, when protein or sugar is found in urine, it is a sign of disease.

The urine, which is eventually discarded, is passed through several stages of filtration and reabsorption in the kidneys to ensure that most of the nutrients are absorbed as much as possible and only toxins and waste are discarded.

So biology tells us that urine is mostly composed of toxins and waste.

2) Whose urine and why?

No one claims "Urine" in the generic sense is a cure. The urine of a specific animal that has cultural/religious prominence is hailed as a cure. For instance, Camel's urine is considered curative in the Middle East and not of any other animal.

How was a specific animal's urine arrived at as being curative and not of other animals or humans? (this logic can also be extended to claims of cures by consuming body parts)

3) why did it take so long for something so ubiquitous, cheap, and of such enormous economic and social value to catch up?

Urine has been available for free forever. People have been formulating drugs for a long time for fevers and aches. The world has been trading spices, rugs, and medicines throughout history. Why dind't urine catch up?

Why did the world come up with paracetamol when urine could do it for fever? Urine would make perfect economic sense since it requires no manufacturing, and can be locally sourced and sold for profit. The global Acetaminophen (Paracetamol) Market is ~12 Billion$.

4) What data exists to support the curative claim?

The most straightforward thing to do is to commission clinical trials and, if found useful, approve it as a drug for domestic consumption and international exports. This should not be hard at all. This will be great for conservation, economy, and health. I can't imagine a bigger win-win.

Does data exist for curative properties of urine, faeces or body parts? Not sure.

Besides, some people who believe in the curative property of one animal's urine, reject such claims from others. For instance, the Middle East doesn't see value in other animal's urine as it sees in Camel's urine.

Could it be that the cure is in the mind of the beholder, via the powerful placebo effect.

There is one excrement which, to the best of my knowledge, is not spoken about in any ancient system of medicine, which might turn out to be a promising cure for many ailments.

That excrement doesn't belong to an exotic species, it belongs to us--Human faeces.