LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Cow urine distillate as bioenhancer
Sir,
In the “Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine” April
2010, 1(2), the article on “Bioenhancers – Revolutionary
concept in market” is very aptly written. In addition to the
herbal bioenhancers elucidated in the article, I would like to
add that cow urine distillate/concentrate (Kamdhenu Ark)
shares this property too.
Cow (Bos indicus) urine/gomutra has been elaborately
explained in Ayurveda and described in “Sushruta Samhita”,
“Ashtanga Sangraha” and other Ayurvedic texts as an
effective medicinal substance/secretion of animal origin
with innumerable therapeutic properties.[1] Bhav Prakash
Nighantu describes gomutra as the best of all types of
animal urine (including human) and enumerates its various
therapeutic uses.[2] Persons who drink gomutra regularly
are said to live a healthy life, remaining unaffected by the
vagaries of old age, even at age 90.[3] Gomutra is called
“Sanjivani” and “Amrita” in Ayurveda. In addition, it has
applications as a biopesticide in organic farming along with
cow dung, cow’s milk and other herbal ingredients.
Gomutra is not a toxic waste material. 95% of it is water,
2.5% consists of urea, and the remaining 2.5% is a mixture
of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes.[4] Gomutra
exhibits the property of Rasayana tattwa responsible for
modulating various bodily functions, including immunity. It
augments B- and T-lymphocyte blastogenesis; and IgG, IgA
and IgM antibody titers in mice. It also increases secretion
of interleukin-1 and interleukin-2,[5] phagocytic activity
of macrophages, and is thus helpful in the prevention
and control of infections. Antimicrobial and germicidal
properties of gomutra are due to the presence of urea
(strong effect), creatinine, swarn kshar (aurum hydroxide),
carbolic acid, other phenols, calcium and manganese; its
anticancer effect is due to uric acid’s antioxidant property
and allantoin; immunity is improved by swarn kshar; and
wound healing is promoted by allantoin. Cardiovascular
health is maintained by a number of its components:
kallikrein is a vasodilator; the enzyme urokinase acts as
a fibrinolytic agent; nitrogen, uric acid, phosphates and
hippuric acid act as diuretic agents; ammonia maintains
the integrity of blood corpuscles; nitrogen, sulfur, sodium
and calcium components act as blood purifiers; while iron
and erythropoietin stimulating factor maintain hemoglobin
levels. Renal health is maintained by nitrogen, which acts
as a renal stimulant, and urinary components which act as
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diuretic agents. Its antiobesity effect is due to the presence
of copper ions; calcium promotes skeletal/bone health.
Aurum hydroxide and copper act as antidotes for various
poisons in the body.[6]
Certain poisons can be refined and purified if soaked in
gomutra for 3 days. For example, Dhatura (Dhatura metel)
seeds (with shell peeled off) are considered purified after
soaking in gomutra for 12 hours. Cow urine can be used
for purification of guggul (Comniphera mukul), loha (iron)
and bhalataka (Semecarpus anacardium), detoxification of
aconite (Aconitum napellus) and also for purification and
detoxification of silver.[7]
Bioenhancing is one of its many properties.[8] Cow urine
distillate is more effective as a bioenhancer than cow urine,
and increases the effectiveness of antimicrobial, antifungal
and anticancer drugs.[9] It also increases the activity of
gonadotropin releasing hormone conjugate with bovine
serum albumin (GnRH–BSA) and zinc.[10]
Cow urine has bioenhancing activity for Rifampicin, the
front-line anti-tubercular drug used against tuberculosis,
increasing its action up to sevenfold against Escherichia
coli, and up to 11-fold against Gram-positive bacteria.
Cow urine distillate enhances the transport of antibiotics,
e.g., Rifampicin, Tetracycline, and Ampicillin, across the
gut wall as well as across artificial membranes. Transport
enhancement varies from approximately twofold to
sevenfold.[11]
The GnRH–BSA conjugate has a deleterious effect on
reproductive hormones and estrous cycles of female
mice; cow urine concentrate acts as a bioenhancer of
immunization efficacy to modulate these effects.[10]
Cow urine exhibits antitoxic activity against cadmium
chloride and can be used as a bioenhancer for zinc, Zn2+.
Mature male mice, Mus musculus, exposed to cadmium
chloride only, showed 0% fertility rate. However, the
animals given a combination of cadmium chloride + cow
urine + zinc sulfate showed 90% fertility rate with 100%
viability and lactation indices. Besides this, the fertility
index was also found to be 88% in the group treated with
cadmium chloride and cow urine.[12]
Cow urine has been granted US Patents (No. 6,896,907
Journal of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine | October 2010 | Vol 1 | Issue 4
 Letters to the Editor
and 6,410,059) for its medicinal properties, particularly as a
bioenhancer and as an antibiotic, antifungal and anticancer
agent. With regard to the latter, it has been observed to
increase the potency of “Taxol” (paclitaxel) against MCF-7,
a human breast cancer cell line, in in vitro assays (US Patent
No. 6,410,059).
These milestone achievements highlight the potential
role of cow urine in treatment of bacterial infections and
cancer, and demonstrate that cow urine can enhance the
efficacy and potency of other drugs.
Gurpreet Kaur Randhawa
Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College,
Amritsar, Punjab - 143 001, India. kullar.g@gmail.com
DOI: 10.4103/0975-9476.74089
REFERENCES
1. Prashith Kekuda TR, Nishanth BC, Praveen Kumar SV, Kamal
D, Sandeep M, Megharaj HK. Cow urine concentrate: A
potent agent with antimicrobial and anthelmintic activity. J
Pharm Res 2010;3:1025-7.
2. Pandey GS, Chunekar KC. Bhav Prakash Nighantu (Indian
Materia Medica) of Sri Bhavamisra (c. 1600-1600 AD) -
Ath Mutravargh. Vol. 18. Varanasi: Chaukhamba Bharati
A traditional way of rice preparation with particular
benefits for Arthritis and musculo-skeletal disorders
Sir,
The review paper by Chopra in J-AIM[1] concerning
Ayurveda drugs for Arthritis is clearly of great value to
those who have contracted the disease, but in order to
be considered full Ayurveda treatments, such drugs need
to be combined with diet and lifestyle recommendations
appropriate to the patient. In this sense the studies
concerned are not really about Ayurveda as practiced, but
about a bowdlerized Ayurveda seen from the biomedical
perspective, with its treatments implemented and evaluated
strictly as a substitution for western medicine. This
constitutes a sad failure to acknowledge Ayurveda’s unique
features which promise to give it a highly valued place in
medicine globally.
Diet and lifestyle components of Ayurveda are fundamental,
and, as is well known, Ayurveda states that even the
administration of the correct medicine to cure a complaint
may not be of lasting value unless the lifestyle and diet
of the patient are attended to. Most chronic illnesses or
degenerative diseasees like arthritis result from persistent
Journal of Ayurveda & Integrative Medicine | October 2010 | Vol 1 | Issue 4
Academy; 2009. p. 778.
3. Shukla AV, Tripathi RD. Caraka Samhita of Agnivesh.
Vol. 1. Delhi: Chaukhamba Sanskrit Pratishthan; 1997. p.
1:45.
4. Bhadauria H. Cow Urine- A Magical Therapy. Vishwa
Ayurveda Parishad, 71-74. Int J Cow Sci 2002;1:32-6.
5. Chauhan RS. Panchagavya Therapy (Cow pathy)- Current
status and future directions. Indian Cow 2004;1:3-7.
6. Jain NK, Gupta VB, Garg R, Silawat N. Efficacy of cow urine
therapy on various cancer patients in Mandsaur district,
India: A survey. Int J Green Pharm 2010;4:29-35.
7. Misra BS, Shastri KA, Lochan K, Choudhary AK.
Bhaisajyaratnavali of Govinda Dasji. Vol. 2. Varanasi:
Chaukhamba Sanskrit Bhawan; 2006. p. 51-2.
8. Chauhan RS, Garg N. Cow Therapy as an alternative to
antibiotics. Banglore, Karnataka: Indian Science Congress;
2003.
9. Chawla, PC, Risorine - A Novel CSIR Drug Curtails TB
Treatment, CSIR News. March 2010;60:52.
10. Ganaie JA, Shrivastava VK. Effects of gonadotropin releasing
hormone conjugate immunization and bioenhancing role
of Kamdhenu ark on estrous cycle, serum estradiol and
progesterone levels in female Mus musculus. Iran J Reprod
Med 2010;8:70-5.
11. Available from: http://www.patentstorm.us/
patents/6896907/description.html [last accessed 2010
Sep 2].
12. Khan A, Srivastava V. Antitoxic and Bioenhancing role
of  Kamdhenu ark2(Cow urine distillate) on fertility rate of
male mice (mus musculus) affected by cadmium Chloride
Toxicity. Int J Cow Sci 2005;1:43-46.
stresses placed on the system by personal habits which, in
the long term, build into unacceptable strain on regulatory
function. Over the years, such strain drives the system to
breaking point, and pathology results.
Ayurveda is clear that diet and lifestyle have to be attended
to. Without such action, say its texts, disease will inevitably
return. To implement this, the vaidya plays the role of
‘doctor’ in the true sense of the word’s Latin root, ‘docere’,
meaning ‘to teach’. Ayurveda traditional treatments
incorporate components of instruction in remedial diet
and so on, to help bring the patient’s regulatory system
back to whatever state of relative equilibrium can still be
regained after years of misuse. If the patient’s system is
strong, however, such remedial instruction can often be
of actual curative value.
Knowledge of good dietary practices was deeply embedded
in India’s traditional culture. Earlier generations often
observed age-old procedures for doing particular things
for reasons they did not fully understand, but did out
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