A Review of the Therapeutic Characteristics of Camel Urine

Abstract

Background: The therapeutic use of camel urine has been known for centuries, with evidence of its use for medicinal purposes found in early folklore. It has been used to cure different diseases; however, the significant therapeutic benefits of urine have yet to undergo rigorous scientific evaluation. In this review, a summary of the scientific evidence that supports these therapeutic actions has been presented. Materials and methods: A literature search of different electronic databases including PubMed, Medline, SCOPUS, Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar were conducted to identify published studies exploring the therapeutic effects of camel urine. 'Camel' and 'Urine', 'Medicinal properties', 'Natural products' were entered into the databases as key words. Reference lists of published reviews retrieved by the search were also searched to identify relevant papers. Result: There have been several laboratory and limited clinical studies providing evidence of the therapeutic effects of camel urine in the treatment of cancer, viral hepatitis and other viral, bacterial and parasitic infections. Therapeutic uses in the cardiovascular system have also been discovered, with regard to platelet and fibrinolytic actions. Conclusion:The exploration of the use of camel urine is of great interest to determine the efficacy of this practice, as well as the safety of the patients being treated. This review presented the benefits of camel urine, which were commonly drawn from small laboratory studies. Therefore, many more preclinical and clinical studies are needed to examine the efficacy and safety of the use of camel urine in in the treatment of disease.

Zootherapeutic uses of animals excreta: the case of elephant dung and urine use in Sayaboury province, Laos

“…In the Middle East camel excreta are traditionally used to treat various ailments and the urine of this animal has also been the subject of numerous pharmacological studies [ 89 ]. 5 Anti-microbial properties of camel urine have been demonstrated in vitro showing antifungal activity on Candida albicans and Aspergillus nige and anti-bacterial activity against multi-drug resistant pathogenic bacteria [ 90 , 91 ].…”

Von Kamelen und Krebsforschung

“…Eine etwas appetitlichere Alternative für den neugierigen Leser könnte übrigens Kamelmilch sein, die ein ebenso interessantes Wirksamkeitsspektrum wie Kamelurin aufweist – viele der Inhaltsstoffe wie die erwähnten Antikörper und damit deren Effekte wurden auch in der Milch gefunden, auch wenn diese wohl schwieriger im großen Stil medizinisch umgesetzt werden kann .…”

Failure to detect MERS‐CoV RNA in urine of naturally infected dromedary camels

“…Camel urine is believed to have therapeutic effects in the treatment of cancer, diabetes, certain infectious and cardiovascular diseases as well as in the treatment of hair and skin problems. Hence, fresh urine is consumed, used to wash body and hair, and is a component in ointments (Alkhamees, 2017;Gader, 2016) for example it has been described that Bedouins in the Middle East have a daily consumption of 100 ml camel urine while a study amongst 156 Saudi cancer patients showed that 15.7% drank camel urine (Abuelgasim, 2018;Al-Yousef et al, 2012).…”