Bao Yafu chugs down a cup of his own urine.

Apparently drinking your own urine is a thing. Honest. Just ask 79 year-old Wuhan man Bao Yafu who, according to a story in the Wuhan Evening Post, has been drinking the stuff for 22 years. Bao credits the “elixir” (his word, not ours) for curing his constipation, mouth ulcers, and perhaps most impressive, giving him the bone density of a 30 year-old man.

Bao, who also serves as head of the China Urine Therapy Association, religiously drinks three cups of urine every day and washes his eyes and face with it as well.  “For 22 years, I have never had a cold, and I can see things more clearly. I don’t have liver spots on my skin,” Bao told the newspaper. A bone density test conducted last year revealed that he had a bone density only slighter lower than a 29 year-old man, which according to him, even shocked the doctor.

Bao Yafu is not the only one practicing urine therapy in China. According to Bao, there are about 100,000 people across the country who take part in the practice. Founded in March 2008 by Bao and his fellow Hong Kong urine enthusiasts, the China Urine Therapy Association boasts 1,000 members and has been recognized by the Hong Kong government as a “non-profit and non-charitable civil organization”.

Bao explains the importance of drinking from giant, slurpee-sized cups

A 21 year-old man in Wuhan has been drinking his own urine for a year and claims the method is responsible for curing his hyperthyroidism, which is often accompanied by a visibly enlarged thyroid gland and protruding eyes. Initially apprehensive, and hesitantly sipping for the first year, the young man is now comfortably downing half a bottle a day.

Pan Xiuli, who lives close to Bao Yafu, is also a practitioner of urine therapy. Not only does she drinks urine, but she got her husband and father hooked as well. The elixir worked best on her father, an old man in his 80′s, who credited urine therapy for curing his respiratory infection.

Pan said, “My father is more than 80 years old, and has been drinking urine for over a decade. He drinks urine whenever he is able to urinate. Not a single drop is wasted.”

Doctors are skeptical. We have heard about men surviving extreme circumstances by drinking urine or for sheer entertainment purposes. But if Bao is successful in further spreading the urine gospel, perhaps he can convince some of his countrymen to stop expelling such precious liquid in public spaces.

Photos:  Wuhan Evening Post