Speaking to the media on Monday, January 20, the Indian Institute of Technology - Madras (IIT-M) Director V Kamakoti doubled down on his previous comments crediting cow urine for having anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal benefits. He cited five academic papers that allegedly ascertain these claims scientifically and added that he consumes panchagavya, an ayurvedic concoction, consisting of cow urine, cow dung, milk, ghee, and curd.
On January 15, Kamakoti had shared an anecdote about a saint who reportedly recovered from a high fever after consuming cow urine, emphasising its supposed medicinal value, at the Go Samrakshana Sala event. After his remarks drew flak, he clarified on Monday that his claims have reportedly been scientifically proven in five research/review papers.
One of the five papers he cited was published in the well-known peer-reviewed science journal Nature. The Nature paper says that researchers found evidence of antimicrobial activity in peptides—a short string of amino acids—extracted from cow urine in this instance, particularly against the E. coli bacteria and the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. The paper adds that more research is needed to validate the anti-inflammatory, anti-hypertensive, and anti-cancerous potential also studied in this experiment.
Meanwhile, the other review papers have largely cited research on the benefits of cow urine and concluded that the benefits cannot be ascertained unless further studies are carried out on human subjects.
One of the papers cited by Kamakoti, published in the Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology, titled ‘Chemotherapeutic potential of cow urine: A review,’ also concluded that more research on human subjects is essential to explore the benefits of cow urine from indigenous and in-bred cows to fully assess potential.
Another paper titled ‘Review of Gowmuthra’ also highlighted the side effects that cow urine can cause including mouth ulcers, hyperacidity, and heartburn in some people.
Kamakotti also shared a patent that was granted in the US in 2005, for using an ‘effective amount’ of bioactive extracts from cow urine along with pharmaceutically acceptable additives to develop a pharmaceutical composition to support his claims.