Cows are about to be used for more than just their meat and hide. One Hindu organization is promoting the widespread use of an underrated nutritious and healing part of the cow- its urine.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, also known as the National Volunteer Corps, says that cow urine is crucial to curing numerous untreatable diseases, such as cancer and tuberculosis, Live Science reported Monday. The organization has created a beverage made with cow urine called Gomutra Ark.
Reports about the cow urine soda first circulated in 2009. It is not clear if the soda is now available, but reports say the soda was ready for consumption at the end of 2013.
"Cow urine offers a cure for around 70 to 80 incurable diseases like diabetes," Om Prakash, head of the RSS Cow Protection Department, told Reuters in 2009. "All are curable by cow urine."
The soda will be marketed as an alternative to other sodas RSS says are full of toxins, like Coca Cola and Pepsi. Studies show that RSS's claims about cow urine are not ludicrous.
A 2013 study from the International Brazilian Journal of Urology says that filtered cow urine can help prevent kidney stones in rats, Live Science reported. Another 2012 study found that cow urine lowered glucose levels in diabetic rats. The study noted that the urine has a "high therapeutic index and is safe for chronic use," Live Science reported.
Cow urine has been used for its medicinal purposes in India for nearly 5,000 years, Live Science reported. Hindus, who believe the cow to be sacred, drink it at religious gatherings. However, some modern scientists denounce the benefits of drinking cow urine, known in Sanskrit as "gau jal," or cow water.
"I think I'm perfectly comfortable in saying that I'm aware of no data that cow's urine- or any other species' urine- holds any promise...in treating or preventing cancer," Donald Hensrud from the Mayo Clinic, told ABC News.