每日電訊：為啥很多印度人喝牛尿

牛尿長期以來一直被那些練習“阿育吠陀”的人聲稱具有許多有益健康的好處，“阿育吠陀”是一種替代的整體醫學係統，其教義源自印度教經文，其起源可追溯到 2000 多年前的印度。

印度獸醫研究所 (IVRI) 進行的研究發現，健康奶牛的尿液樣本中含有 14 種有害細菌。 引起胃部感染的大腸杆菌最常被檢測到。

阿育吠陀涉及草藥、醫用油和礦物質的混合物，以及嚴格的飲食習慣和瑜伽和冥想練習，被許多西方人視為偽科學。

但根據 2017 年的一份報告，至少有 77% 的印度人使用阿育吠陀產品，自 Covid-19 大流行以來，這一數字預計還會進一步增長。

該行業價值 78 億英鎊，穀歌快速搜索顯示了一係列主要的阿育吠陀公司的產品廣告。

印度最大的 Ayurvedic 公司 Patanjali 以 50 便士的價格出售一種含有瓶裝牛尿的藥物，承諾“治療濕疹、控製糖尿病和癌症”。 另一個品牌 Easy Ayurveda 為客戶提供有關如何蒸餾尿液的詳細說明，聲稱它可用於治療從麻風病到哮喘的多種疾病。

臭名昭著的是，在印度毀滅性的 Covid-19 第二波浪潮中，印度執政的印度人民黨 (BJP) 的幾名議員甚至建議其選民喝牛尿以避免感染病毒。

IVRI 的發現可能不會令世界各地的許多科學家和醫生感到震驚，但它們再次引發了人們對印度阿育吠陀行業監管不力的質疑，並認為它可能弊大於利。

It was a surprise how many Indians were shocked by the study’s findings – drinking cow urine was found to be significantly harmful to human health.

The research carried out by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) discovered urine samples from healthy cows contained 14 types of harmful bacteria. Escherichia coli, which causes stomach infections, was most commonly detected.

Cow urine has long been purported as having a host of health-giving benefits by those who practise ‘Ayurveda’, an alternative, holistic medicine system that derives its teachings from Hindu scriptures and can trace back its roots in India more than 2,000 years.

 

Involving a mixture of herbal medicines, medical oils and mineral substances, as well as adherence to a strict diet and often the practice of yoga and meditation, Ayurveda is considered a pseudoscience by many in the West.

But at least 77 percent of Indians use Ayurvedic products, according to a 2017 report, with this figure expected to have grown further since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The industry is worth £7.8 billion, and a quick Google search displays a host of major Ayurveda firms advertising products.

Patanjali, India’s largest Ayurvedic firm, sells a medicine containing bottled cow urine for 50p which promises to “cure eczema, control diabetes and cancer”. Easy Ayurveda, another brand, provides customers detailed instructions on how to distil urine, claiming it is useful against a host of conditions from leprosy to asthma.

Infamously, during India’s devastating Covid-19 second wave, several parliamentarians from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even advised their constituents to drink cow urine to avoid infection from the virus.

The findings from the IVRI might not come as a shock to many scientists and doctors around the world, but they have again raised questions of India’s poorly-regulated Ayurveda industry and the belief it might be doing more harm than good.

Ayurveda’s critics do agree that there are compounds and medicines used in the ancient practice which can play a pivotal part in modern medicine today.

As early as 300 BC, there are records of Indian Ayurvedic physicians using the seeds of the velvet bean plant to treat symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

The seeds contain high levels of levodopa, an amino acid that was found to be an effective dopamine replacement agent and is now considered the gold standard treatment for Parkinson’s patients.

“There are many medications within Ayurveda that are effective that have been adopted into western medicines,” explains Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, the Founder and Director of the One Health Trust, a leading public health research organisation headquartered in Washington DC and Delhi.

“Ayurveda has phenomenal potential but it can’t be evaluated adequately by a western, reductionist approach. It is a systemic approach, the ultimate level of personalised medicine and relies on a physician who can treat your needs, specifically.”