This is the kind of piece that commences with a disclaimer: Be warned, some may find what is contained herein unsavoury, even repulsive.

As you read this, someone might be gulping his urine in a quest to seek a cure for an illness.

But Dr Pius Musau, a urologist at Moi Teaching and Referral (MTRH), dismisses the use of urine as a cure. “This is total hogwash!” he stated.

Just so you understand this, a book by Martha Christy, Your Own Perfect Medicine, advocates for a form of homeopathic medicine, in which the patient takes his own urine.

Christy claims that she was healed of a number of infections – about 10 different illnesses, ranging from kidney problems to stomach upsets.

According to proponents of this type of therapy, elements in urine have enormous medicinal value, and when reintroduced to the body, they boost the body’s immune defenses and stimulate healing in a way that nothing else does.

But while Christy and many in the urine drinking club may swear by their experiences, some experts think otherwise. “Urine contains waste. It is one of critical ways the body rids itself of toxic components of the blood that emerge from metabolism. It is the body communicating that it does not need something. Why then would the body need that which it decided to do without? Why then don’t we eat our own faeces?” wondered Dr Musau.

Whatever beliefs and trust people have in urine today, it certainly didn’t start recently. History has it that French women took urine baths in the 18th century.

In the May 2015 issue of Marieclaire, Dr Rachel Nazarian, a dermatologist, speaks of the ‘harmlessness’ of urine. “We already use urea, a component of urine, in a lot of skincare products,” she says.

Though largely safe, Dr Musau says that urine is not meant for regular human consumption. He argues that: “Urine is sterile and very safe for drinking. However, it contains toxic waste from the body. One cannot keep returning the waste back into their bodies.”

There are no medical or scientific data to support urine drinking as a therapy.

Captain Solomon Nyanjui who worked for Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in November 2007 when his helicopter crashed in dense forest around Mt Kenya survived in the jungle for eight days by eating leaves and drinking his own urine.

This means that drinking your urine isn’t likely to be harmful, but it has no known medical benefit.