MailOnline readers were left disgusted yesterday after reading about a 34-year-old British vegan man who drinks his own, stale urine every day.
Now doctors are warning against an even more disgusting trend — consuming the urine of strangers.
Bottles of urine can be bought on online fetish sites for as little as £8, with sellers encouraging customers to drink it or ‘make a pot of tea with it’.
Dr Zakariya Waqar-Uddin, a GP in west London, told MailOnline urine is a waste product that provides no benefits, so is removed from the body.
And drinking others’ urine puts people at risk of catching any infections that they have, he said.
‘The fetish market is getting more and more bizarre and trying to raise the ante in any way,’ he said
Astonishingly, he fears the cost of living crisis could see more people selling their sample online. Dr Waqar-Uddin said soaring energy, food and fuel bills are forcing people to ‘think outside of the box’.
Harry Matadeen’s strange confession yesterday that he drinks month-old urine made international news, with coverage in papers in France, Spain, Hungary and even Brazil.
Describing himself as ‘open-minded’, Mr Matadeen explained how he began the bizarre habit in 2016 because he was ‘desperate to heal’ his mental health issues.
He said his urine, which he drinks 200ml of each day, left him feeling ‘a new sense of peace, calm and determination’ and cured him almost immediately.
Harry Matadeen (pictured), 34, from Hampshire, began drinking urine in the summer of 2016 because he was ‘desperate to heal’ his depression and ‘open-minded’ on how to do this
Doctors have today begged Britons to stop buying used condoms and tampons, bottles of urine (pictured) and tubs of faeces. Medics fear the revolting listings — which can go for as little as £8 a pop online — may only become more common amid the cost of living crisis
And Mr Matadeen — who sometimes cups his own stream and splashes it on his face — claimed it’s the ‘secret to eternal youth’.
Urine therapy is said to date back to the Bible. Historical documents suggest that the Aztecs disinfected wounds with it, while its supposed benefits are also mentioned in Indian and Chinese literature.
Fans of ‘urophagia’, a term used to describe the strange practice, include Madonna.
In 1945, John W. Armstrong, a British naturopath, published a book claiming drinking urine could cure all major illnesses.
However, there is no scientific proof of this.
Doctors acknowledge that drinking urine is usually harmless in small quantities and might be better than nothing in life-or-death situations.
But consuming your own urine can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and cause an electrolyte imbalance — which speeds up dehydration.
Dr Waqar-Uddin said: ‘Drinking your own urine only exposes you to disease or infection you already have.
‘But drinking the urine of others exposes you to infection that they have.’
Bacteria in other peoples’ urine can cause gastrointestinal problems, such as salmonella and shigella, and other infections.
And drinking urine strains the kidneys, which cleanse the blood of toxins and transforms the waste – such as potassium and nitrogen – into urine.
Consuming urine means the kidneys have to work hard to filter out the waste again.
Dr Jeff Foster, a GP in Warwickshire, said: ‘There are no known reported health benefits from either drinking or rubbing your own urine onto your body (or anyone else’s urine).
‘Orally, it is much worse – it can actually speed up the dehydration process and potentially introduce bacteria.
‘Bottom line is if you would not eat or rub in your own faeces, then don’t think applying the same principle with urine is any healthier.
‘Waste products are waste for a reason.’
Pots of urine, sometimes described as ‘sweet nectar’, are also available for as little as £8.
One advert is decorated with a Highland Spring 500ml bottle containing a yellow-ish liquid.
It says: ‘There’s enough in this bottle to really enjoy yourself… pour it over your head, wash your face in it, drink it, sit and sniff it, gargle it, make yourself a pot of tea with it… the choice is yours.’
A separate post offered 30ml of urine in a vile, noting more could be requested but it would cost extra.
Another offers ‘freshly produced urine’ that are ‘made to order and will be posted first class’.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk