Members of the China Urine Therapy Association have claimed that around 100,000 people in mainland China now practice urine therapy.

These urine drinkers believe that this practice has many healing effects. The association's chairman, Bao Yafu, 79, drinks three cups of his own urine daily and even uses it to wash his eyes and face, the South China Morning Post reported.

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Bao said 22 years of practicing urine therapy has made his eyesight clearer and helped him avoid colds and age pigment. In an interview with local news agency Wuhan Evening News, he also said a recent medical checkup at a local hospital showed his bone density to be the same as that of a 30-year-old's.

The association now has more than 1,000 members from all over China excluding Tibet and Ningxia, Bao said. He describes the group as a non-profit and non-governmental association recognized by the Hong Kong SAR government.

To become a member, one must consume urine and promote its curative effects, and pay a yearly membership fee of CNY20 (US$3.22). Once a year, around 100 members confer to share their experiences regarding the therapy.

The group's website explains that urine is a "genuine metabolic product" that comes from blood, thereby making it different from excrement. Drinking urine allows a person to reabsorb antigens and antibodies to improve the body's ability to fight off illnesses without the side effects that come with synthetic medicine, the site said.

Wuhan Evening News published a story about 21-year-old Xiaoliu whose hyperthyroidism was cured after a year of practicing urine therapy. However, his doctor refuted the claim, insisting that Xiaoliu's thyroid figures have normalized because he continued with the medical treatment for two years. The physician added that the patient came to him every month for a checkup.

Still, Xiaoliu's story of urine therapy became widely circulated on the Chinese Internet, prompting local newspapers to investigate the practice.

In an interview with the Chongqing Evenings News, two members of the association said that those who wanted to get the curative effects of urine need to drink only the middle part of the urine "because it's the purest" and use glass rather than plastic or metal containers to "preserve the original flavors."

A third interviewee, 88-year-old Zhou Linhui, said he had practiced urine drinking for 24 years but stopped when he developed diabetes and kidney failure.

Because the benefits of the controversial practice attracted heated debates, Chinese state-run news firm People's Daily published an investigative report on the organization on June 27. The report found out that the group is only an unlimited partnership firm which was registered in Hong Kong in 2008 but has no corporate capacity.

The address posted on its website is an old house in Tianjin, China. An elderly man who lives in that house has no knowledge of urine therapy.

According to physicians interviewed by People's Daily, urine is a metabolic waste that the body does not need. Therefore, drinking urine may only add the waste circulating in the blood, liver, stomach, and intestines.

Nephrology doctor Chen Wenli told the newspaper that urine is composed of 95 percent water and 5 percent nitrogenous waste. He said it might also contain a toxin flushed out by the body so "there is no good in drinking it."

Although there are some ancient Chinese medicine books that record urine as a substance that helps stop bleeding and treat bruises, it was only used in minor traumatic injuries, Chinese medicine experts say. There is no medical evidence that supports the beneficial use of long-term urine therapy.

TagsChina Urine Therapy Association, urine therapy