FACT CHECK: Does cow urine have ‘anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and digestive properties’, as IIT Madras director claimed?

CLAIM:
IIT Madras Director V. Kamakoti claims cow urine has medicinal properties including the ability to cure fever in 15 minutes and help with digestive issues like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, citing an anecdote about a monk who used it. 

FACT: 
Medical experts, including gastroenterologists who First Check contacted, state there is no scientific evidence or peer-reviewed research concretely supporting any medicinal benefits of cow urine. 

The director of IIT Madras recently in a function made unsubstantiated claims about the medicinal properties of cow urine during a recent public event. The 45 second video posted on Jan 18th 2025 has gone viral on Twitter and has racked up 202.3k views as of publishing this article.  

In the viral clip, Professor Kamakoti recounts an anecdote about an unidentified religious ascetic who allegedly cured his high fever by consuming cow urine. "In 15 minutes his fever was gone," Professor Kamakoti tells the audience, proceeding to attribute anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and digestive properties to the substance. 

The full text of his speech is given below (translated from Tamil):
"A monk came, he got a high fever, so someone asked him should we call a doctor, I don't remember the name of the sanyasi, but he said, "gaumutra pibami" and immediately went to the cow shed, got cow urine and drank it. In 15 minutes, his fever was gone. Therefore, cow urine has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, benefits digestion, and it also helps with irritable bowel syndrome, like this gaumutra (cow urine) has a lot other benefits, it is a good medicine. We have to consider its medicinal value." 

Since the comments went viral, the professor has received a lot of backlash for peddling allegedly "unscientific" claims. He has now gone on to justify his claims saying that there have been multiple papers published in peer-reviewed journals that validated the benefits of cow urine.  

First Check reviewed the papers cited by Professor Kamakoti and found that, most of these studies themselves assert that further research is needed to substantiate the claims on the benefits of cow urine. Secondly, none of the studies directly mention the claims which the director made, namely that cow urine can cure fever in 15 minutes or that it is useful in treating other ailments that affect the gut such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome. 

For instance, a particular research  paper he cited does in fact suggest that cow urine may be beneficial, but it goes on to say that "more well-planned studies in human subjects are required to fully assess its potential as an effective antimicrobial agent as most of the studies quoted are in vitro studies." 

Another is a review  on Cow urine but only has three sources listed in its references. A review on the "Miraculous benefits of Cow Urine" and another review on the "benefits of Cow urine" both have the exact same line, which reads "[f]urther researches is required to prove its qualities and benefits." (sic).  

Another study  cited by the Director is related to the peptide profiling of cow urine which has no mention of consuming cow urine to treat fever or IBS as claimed by the professor.  

The director also mentioned a patent given by the United States government on the use of a component from Cow Urine, titled "Use of bioactive fraction from cow urine distillate (‘go-mutra’) as a bio-enhancer of anti-infective, anti-cancer agents and nutrients." However, this patent, which was filed for by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and has now expired, does not mention the direct consumption of cow urine, but of using a particular component found in cow urine to produce pharmaceutical compositions. 

First Check also found that instead of helping, cow urine could be potentially harmful, from a more recent study, which found "the presence of at least 14 types of potentially harmful bacteria in fresh urine samples." 

This story is done in collaboration with First Check, which is the health journalism vertical of DataLEADS.